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ERCENTENARY 



of MARTIN FRINGES FIRST 
VOYAGE TO THE COAST 
OF MAINE =<«»b 'm 1603 - 1903 



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MONUMENT TO MARTIN PRING 

St. Stephens Church, Bristol, England 



THE AVANT COURIERS OF COLONIZATION 

BY HON. JAMES PHFNNEY BAXTEB, PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY 

A paper read on November 19, 1903, before the Maine HiHorical 

Society at a meeting commemorative of the tercentenary of 

Martin Pring''s first voyage to America 

How long before the discoveries of Columbus and 
Cabot the western hemisphere had been visited by- 
adventurers from other parts of the world will ever 
be a matter of speculation. Traditions of prior dis- 
coveries therein have engaged the attention and sup- 
port of ingenious writers, but they are too vague to 
stand the test of historical criticism. Such are the 
alleged discoveries by Phoenicians, perhaps the most 
daring navigators of antiquity, of Jews, Chinese, 
Irish, Scandinavians and Welsh. Even the discov- 
eries so generally believed to have been made by the 
Norsemen in the tenth century, although the sagas 
which describe them bear internal evidences of truth, 
cannot be properly regarded as history. 

The first known discovery of the North American 
continent was made by John Cabot on June 24, 1497. 
Even Cabot's landfall and the extent of his discov- 
eries are matters of controversy. He was followed 
in the spring of 1500 by the Cortereal brothers, 



Gaspar and Miguel, who penetrated the waters which 
wash the shores of Labrador, but encountering ice 
made a brief survey of the coast and returned to Lis- 
bon in the autumn of 1500. 

In the spring of 1501, Gaspar again set sail for the 
New World with three ships, and striking the coast 
south of his former landfall, he followed it northerly 
for several hundred miles, when encountering ice he 
turned back and skirted the coast toward the south. 
A bit of a sword and silver earrings of European 
manufacture, supposed relics of Cabot's visit, were 
discovered in possession of the natives, who were so 
unsuspicious of strangers that fifty-seven of them weer 
made prisoners, probably by enticing them on board 
his vessels. An eminent authority supposes these 
people to have been captured on the coast of Maine.^ 
Setting sail without their commander two of his ships 
reached Lisbon in safety. Miguel, after watching in 
vain for the return of his brother, set out with three 
ships on the 10th of May, 1502, to seek him, and 
safely reaching the American coast, began a careful 
search for the missing ship. Finding the rivers and 
inlets numerous, he divided his fleet so as to make 
his search more effective, arranging a rendezvous for 
the 20th of August. Two of the vessels met at the 
appointed time and place and awaited the arrival of 
the other bearing their commander, but he did not 
appear, and weary with waiting, they returned to 
Lisbon without him. When another spring returned, 
the king dispatched an expedition in search of the 

> Kohl in " Documentary History of Maine," Vol. I. 






L 



brothers, but it returned without success. They had 
disappeared in the gray mists which sweep mysteri- 
ously along the northern shores of the American con- 
tinent, leaving the world forever to wonder at their 
fate, and relatives and friends to plan expeditions for 
their rescue from perils wrought but in dreams. 

Nor were the English idle, for on the 9th of March, 
1501, Richard Ward, Thomas Ashurst and John 
Thomas, ship owners of Bristol, associating them- 
selves with three Portuguese mariners, Juan Gonsal- 
vez and Juan and Francisco Fernandez, obtained 
from Henry VII. letters patent for western discovery. 
In pursuance of their object, two voyages, of which 
no particulars have been preserved, were doubtless 
made in 1501 and 1502, when the association ended, 
and a new one was formed by Ashurst and another 
Bristol merchant, Hugh Eliot, with two of the Portu- 
guese, to whom letters patent were issued December 
9, 1502. Under this association three successive 
voyages appear to have been made in the years 1503, 
1504 and 1505, but everything relating to them is 
veiled in obscurity. Equally unsuccessful were the 
efforts of the French to gather fruit from Cabot's dis- 
coveries. In 1506, Jean Denys of Honfleur, and in 
1508, Thomas Aubert, sailed from the shores of 
France to the northwest with high hopes of winning 
wealth and fame, but their efforts were barren of 
results, and in 1518, an attempt at settlement on 
Sable Island by the Baron de Lery proved abortive. 
On March 15, 1521, Emmanuel, King of Portugal, 
issued letters patent to Joao Alvarez Fagundes, to 



possess and colonize lands in tlie New World, and 
from an ancient Portuguese chart it would appear 
that he discovered the present Nova Scotia. For a 
long time his name figures in the cartography of this 
region. 

On January 17, 1524, Jean Verrazano under the 
patronage of Francis I., of France, set sail in a small 
vessel called the Dauphine with fifty men and pro- 
visions for eight months, on a voyage of discovery to 
the northwest. Verrazano probably made his land- 
fall on the North Carolinian coast. Finding no har- 
bor, he skirted the coast for fifty leagues southward, 
and then turning to the north explored the coast for 
about seven hundred leagues, when, finding his pro- 
visions growing scanty, he set sail for home and 
arrived at Dieppe in July. 

In the year 1525, Estevan Gomez under authority 
of the Spanish king, set out on a similar voyage. His 
landfall must have been near that of Verrazano and 
his course to the north along almost the same lines. 
He entered the Penobscot River which he named the 
Rio de las Gamos, or river of stags, on account of the 
abundance of these animals which he saw there. It 
appears that he followed the coast to the vicinity of 
Newfoundland. Before his return to Spain, with the 
proverbial cruelty of the Spaniard, " He filled his ship 
with innocent people of both sexes half naked," says 
Peter Martyr, to be sold for slaves. 

On the 20th of May, 1527, the Samson & Mary of 
Guilford, under the command of John Rut, sailed 
from the Thames, touching at Plymouth Harbor, from 



whence slie departed on tlie lOth of June, and on the 
3d of August, came to anchor in the harbor of St. 
Johns amidst a fleet of fourteen ships, Norman, Breton 
and Portuguese, which had come to those far off 
shores to gather the harvest of the seas. By the 
fragmentary account which has been preserved of 
this voyage, we see something of the extent of mari- 
time enterprise in those waters even at this early day. 
For several years we have no record of English 
or French voyages to the northwest ; but in 1534, 
Jacques Cartier, having obtained a commission from 
the French king, Francis I., set sail from St. Malo, 
with two ships each of sixty tons burden, to explore 
the northern coast of America in order to find an 
opening to India. Failing in this, he returned home, 
but not discouraged he set out with three vessels on 
another voyage to the same region the following year, 
intending to establish himself there for the winter. 
On this voyage he discovered the St. Lawrence, and 
remained in the country until the spring of 1536, 
when he returned home. Before the return of Cartier 
from this voyage, there sailed from Gravesend at the 
end of April, 1536, an English expedition consisting 
of two ships commanded by Robert Hore. We hear 
of him at Cape Breton, from whence he took his 
departure for home the same year. It seems improb- 
able that he sailed as far south as the Maine coast. 
In 1541, Cartier in conjunction with the Sieur de 
Roberval, attempted to settle a colony on the St. 
Lawrence, but the enterprise came to a disastrous 
close two years later. 



It is not until 1565 that we hear of another voyage 
of exploration by either English or French. In the 
late summer of that year Captain John Hawkins fol- 
lowed the entire coast of North America from Florida 
to Newfoundland, with three ships, exploring it as he 
went. The coast of Maine with its many bays and 
rivers, must have attracted attention, and the knowl- 
edge he gained of the region must have passed to 
others, and perhaps have been the means of subse- 
quently arousing the interest of his countrymen 
in it. 

For some years we have no record of voyages to 
the northwest for the purpose of discovery or coloni- 
zation. Adventurers, discouraged by repeated failure, 
had adopted the opinion of Peter Martyr to the effect 
that, " They that seek riches must not go to the frozen 
north." A few, however, like Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
continued to hold an adverse opinion. Inspired by 
Gilbert, Martin Frobisher, who had won a reputation 
in England, for seamanship, succeeded, with the aid 
of the Earl of Warwick, in fitting out two small barks, 
manned with thirty-four men, with which he crossed 
the ocean, sailing from Gravesend in June, 1576. He 
made two successive voyages in 1577 and 1578, but 
did not approach the Maine coast. When he arrived, 
however, in English waters, an expedition, consisting 
of seven ships and three hundred and fifty men, was 
ready to sail thither, under the command of Sir 
Humphrey Gilbert. This heroic man had given 
inspiration to the first voyage of Frobisher, and on 
the 11th of the preceding June, had been granted 



by the queen, letters patent *' For tlie inhabiting and 
planting an English colony in America." One of the 
ships, the Falcon, was commanded by Walter Raleigh, 
then twenty-six years old, but the undertaking proved 
abortive, though under the command of two of Eng- 
land's bravest and most accomplished sons. 

Another scheme, however, had been under con- 
sideration by Sir Francis Walsingham, the astute 
Secretary of Elizabeth, who doubtless desired to 
gather direct knowledge through a trusty servant of 
the northern part of America, hence, shortly after 
Raleigh's return, a vessel under the charge of Simon 
Ferdinando, a Portuguese navigator, in the employ of 
the Secretary, set sail from Dartmouth to make a 
reconnoissance of the coast of Norumbega, which he 
successfully accomplished. 

At the same time, Gilbert, who was making active 
preparations to renew his voyage, was obliged by 
orders from the Privy Council, of which Walsingham 
was a potent factor, to relinquish his undertaking. 
Sir Humphrey, however, not to be baffled, succeeded 
a few months later in sending a ship, under the 
charge of a trusty agent, to the same region. The 
name of the man was John Walker, and he explored 
the entrance of the Norumbega, as the Penobscot was 
then called, where, upon a hill nine leagues from the 
river's mouth, he found what he called a silver mine, 
and, obtaining "In an Indian house VII miles with 
in the lande from the ryvers side, IIIc drye hides, ^ 
whereof the most parte of them were eighteene foote 

''Doubtless these were hides of the moose, Alces Americanus. 



by the square," he set sail for home, which he reached 
after a quick run of seventeen days. 

Raleigh, however, cherished the purpose of plant- 
ing a colony in America, and, when his growing for- 
tune enabled him to put this purpose into execution, 
he came to the aid of Gilbert, who was still striving 
to get materials together for his proposed colony, and 
who had been stimulated to new exertions by the 
successful voyages of Walker and others with whom 
he had personally conferred. 

Gilbert also had the aid of Sir George Peckham, 
Sir Thomas Gerard, and other influential men, in this 
enterprise, and on the 11th day of June, 1583, with 
five vessels and two hundred and sixty men, Raleigh 
being detained at home by Elizabeth, he sailed from 
Cawsand Bay. In his former voyage Gilbert had suf- 
fered losses which crippled him, and he had struggled 
against almost insurmountable obstacles to equip his 
fleet. As it was, he was obliged to sail with an insuf- 
cient supply of provisions, and although his tdtimate 
destination was the coast of Maine, he laid his course 
for Newfoundland, hoping to be able to supply his 
scanty stores from fishing vessels, which he might 
encounter, having a supply beyond their needs. On 
the 7th of July, seven weeks after leaving home, land 
was sighted. Reaching Conception Bay he found the 
Swallow, one of his ships, lost in the fog, and, sailing 
southward, entered the harbor of St. Johns on the 3d 
of August, where he found the Squirrel, another of 
his ships. Here he lost so many men from sickness 
and desertion, that he had not enough to navigate his 



ships and lie therefore decided to leave the Swallow 
behind to transport the sick home. On the 27th of 
August, Sir Humphrey sailed from the harbor of St. 
Johns with the Delight, the Golden Hind and Squir- 
rel. Two days after sailing, the largest of his ships, 
the Delight, was driven ashore in a gale and lost with 
nearly all her crew. Finding it impracticable to con- 
tinue his explorations to the coast of Maine, Sir 
Humphrey turned homeward, cheering his comrades 
with promises of a new expedition which should 
result in good for all. As the ships passed north of 
the Azores they encountered heavy seas, and on the 
night of the 9th of September, the Squirrel foundered, 
bearing to destruction the brave Gilbert and her 
crew. Thirteen days later, the Golden Hind, the 
only remaining ship of the fleet, battered and well 
nigh disabled, entered the port of Falmouth. 

During the remainder of the sixteenth century we 
have no account of voyages of exploration to the 
northeastern shores of the New World, either by 
French or English. 

On March 25, 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold sailed 
from Falmouth in a small ship, named the Concord, 
with thirty-two persons, eight of whom were mari- 
ners. A portion of these were to remain in the coun- 
try " for population." His landfall was north of 
Massachusetts Bay. Sailing southward he passed 
Cape Cod and came to an island which he named 
after Queen Elizabeth, and there erected a small fort 
and storehouse for his proposed settlement ; but, 
while he was loading his ship with sassafras, cedar 



and other commodities obtained by traffic with the 
savages, many of the colonists became homesick, and 
in the end the settlement was abandoned and all 
returned home.^ 

Another expedition for the purpose of discovering 
a northwest passage to India commanded by George 
Waymouth was dispatched by the East India Com- 
pany, May 2, of the same year. Taking a course far 
to the north and encountering many dangers, Way- 
mouth abandoned his undertaking and made his way 
back to England. 

A relation of Gosnold's voyage describing the 
country in glowing terms was published upon his 
return home awakening a fresh interest in the new 
country and certain of the " Chief est merchants of 
Bristol" fitted out two vessels, the Speedwell and 
Discoverer, under command of Martin Pring, which 
sailed from Milford Haven, April 10, 1603. On the 
15th of the previous month Champlain sailed on his 
first voyage to Canada, the scene of the exploits of 
his noted countryman, Jacques Cartier, and the fol- 
lowing year settled a French colony on an island, 
which he named St. Croix, near the present town of 
Calais, Maine. Having suffered the loss of many of 

1 The Earl of Southampton, the patron and friend of Shakespeare, was also a 
patron of Gosnold in this voyage, and the Rev. Edward Everett Hale calls attention 
to the resemblance of passages in "The Tempest" and the description of the land- 
ing at Cuttyunk by Gosnold. Mr. Hale supposes Shakespeare to have heard this 
description and used it in his play, and concludes his interesting article on the 
subject by saying that Shakespeare was "Describing an island which is in commu- 
nication with the vexed Bermoothes; yet there is no allusion to an orange, a 
banana, a yam or a potato, a feather cloak or a palm tree, or a pineapple or a 
monkey or a parrot, or anything else which refers to the Gulf of Mexico or the 
tropics. Does not this seem as if he meant that the local color of " The Tempest" 
should be that which was suggested by the gentlemen adventurers and the seamen 
who were talking of Cuttyhunk, its climate and productions, as they told traveller's 
stories up and down in London." 



his colonists during tlie severe winter whicli followed 
their arrival in the new country, he explored the coast 
toward the south in the summer of 1605, but finally 
removed his shattered colony to the north establishing 
it at a place named by him Port Royal, now known as 
Annapolis. In June, 1603, Pring was off the coast of 
Maine, which he explored, noting the fine forests 
and innumerable animals with which the country- 
abounded. Being desirous of obtaining a supply of 
sassafras he shaped his course to Massachusetts Bay, 
where he loaded the Discoverer with the commodity 
he was seeking and dispatched her for England, fol- 
lowing himself later and reaching England, Octo- 
ber 2d. 

The meeting of the Society to-night is the tercen- 
tenary celebration of this voyage of Bring, to whom 
we must accord an honorable place among the 
renowned seamen of the Elizabethan Age, and whose 
name will forever adorn the early pages of our 
history. While Bring himself never led a colony 
here, his explorations of the coast, and the careful 
charts which he made and exhibited to Gorges and 
others on his return to England, explaining to them 
the fertility of the soil which he had tested by plant- 
ing seeds, and the many advantages which the coun- 
try offered to colonial enterprise, were of great 
importance in stimulating them to undertake the 
settlement of the country. Many years, however, 
elapsed before a permanent colony was founded 
within the present limits of Maine. In the brief 
review which I have given of voyages to our northern 



shores I have spoken chiefly of French and English 
enterprises, because after the voyage of Gomez 
we have no accounts of Spanish or Portuguese voy- 
ages thither ; but we know that many vessels went 
annually to Newfoundland and adjacent waters to fish 
and traffic with the natives, and there can be no 
doubt that voyages for discovery and exploration 
were made by Spain who claimed the entire territory 
as her own. The publication of such discoveries, 
however, was not allowed. Nor is there doubt that 
the coast of Maine was familiar to adventurers long 
before Pring's voyage. Kohl, we know, expresses 
his belief that the savages captured for slaves by 
Cortereal in 1502, came from the coast of Maine, and 
we know that the Penobscot appears on the chart of 
Gomez in 1525. Yet we have no evidences of occu- 
pation during the sixteenth century. Gosnold's and 
Pring's voyages, however, with Waymouth's voyage 
to the coast of Maine which followed, mark the begin- 
ning of the movement towards the colonization of New 
England. I have thought that a brief account of the 
voyages to our northern coast, preceding those of Gos- 
nold and Pring, would be a fitting introduction to 
the subject which is to be presented to the Society on 
this very interesting occasion. 



CAPTAIN MARTIN PRING, LAST OF THE 
ELIZABETHAN SEAMEN 

BY PROF. ALFRED L. P. DENNIS 

A paper read on November 19, 1903, before the Maine Historical 

Society at a meeting commemorative of the tercentenary of 

Martin Pring''s first voyage to America 

In the year 1603, Captain Martin Pring of Bristol, 
England, sailed westward to this coast and, after 
spending some weeks in Whitson Bay, now Plymouth 
Harbor in Massachusetts, returned to England with a 
shipload of sassafras. By many students this voyage 
has been remarked chiefly because seventeen years 
later the Mayflower, driven from her course by storms, 
dropped anchor in the same waters where formerly 
Captain Pring had found both safety and profit. 
Such lovers of coincidence have sought to give to 
Captain Pring's achievement merely an introductory 
character, to credit him with sagacity in the choice of 
a harbor only because other men of wider fame were 
later compelled by the will of the winds to the same 
harbor. In short these Greek givers would notice 
and praise Captain Pring for something he could 
neither help nor hinder, and thus would bury his 
rightful glory beneath borrowed laurels ; by so doing 



tliey in reality deny him substantive value and make 
his fame a poor ex post facto affair, at the mercy of 
every judicial reader. 

Such unearned honors and such unnecessary claims 
to notice, Captain Pring himself would be the first to 
reject ; for he could well cite better title to commem- 
oration than mere coincidence. This better title is to 
be found in the record of his life work, and that 
not only because of what he did but also because his 
career is itself a mirror to his times, because in him 
are displayed the working of forces which were to 
give substance and character to the course of English 
history. 

I feel the readier to recall to your minds the story 
of his life, as far as it can be known to-day, because 
from your vantage ground you have already seen the 
truth of my contention. To declare the honor of 
Martin Pring by a commemorative meeting is proof 
that this Society is fulfilling those functions, both 
delightful and valuable, which especially pertain to 
an association by name singular yet by interests uni- 
versal. For it is the good fortune of such societies 
to stand where the path broadens to the highway, to 
point the traveller down the country lane to the ham- 
let whose life will show the deep rootages of ancient 
custom and local habit, or to give him direction along 
the avenue where a new nation has but just passed. 
Such a position accommodates itself to the story 1 
have to tell of a man by whom small matters were 
well ordered and brought forth, yet who on occasion 
was able to effect those greater deeds which enrich 



the memory and enliven the hope of our inherited 
history. I shall speak to you this evening of Captain 
Martin Pring, last of the Elizabethan seamen, adven- 
turer in both hemispheres for the glory and gain of 
England.^ 



I. 

First, however, I must speak of the England which 
gave birth to Martin Pring, of the manner of men he 
had for his example, of their purpose and endeavor 
made evident in action and of the spirit which must 
have been bred in him by the events of his time, that 
we may the better judge how well this Benjamin, 

' Bibliographical Note. The materials for this paper are much scattered. We 
have brief records made either by Captain Pring or by some scribe at his direction of 
the voyage to America in 1603 and of voyages to the East Indies in 1614 and 1617. To 
reinforce and check these we have also several notices in contemporary sources, 
to wit, for the first American voyage a summary statement by Purchas and a bare 
record preserved by Captain John Smith of Robert Salterne's short relation of the 
same. For the Guiana voyage in 1604 there exist a letter of Charles Leigh to hie 
brother, Sir Olive Leigh, and the relation of Master John Wilson, who was also con- 
cerned in that unfortunate venture. The character of the second American voyage 
(1606) is explained by letters and a narration of Captain Challons, who was to have 
been Pring's partner in colonization on that occasion, by writings of Sir Ferdinando 
Gorges, by Strachey in his " Historie of Travaile into Virginia " and by the " Brief 
Relation of the President and Council for New England," published in 1622. The 
story of Pring's services in the employ of the East India Company is given in the 
records of his fellow-sailors, notably in the diary of Captain Nicholas Downton and 
in the relation of Master John Hatch, both of the Company's service; the despatches 
and diary of Sir Thomas Roe, British envoy and resident at the court of the Mughal 
Emperor, Jahangir, are valuable, as are also the papers of the Company, and other 
official documents to be found in the Calendar of State Papers. The only evidence 
concerning a third voyage to America is the will of one Miles Prickett, a baker, who 
died near Canterbury, England, in 1626 or 1627. The secondary sources which 
deserve special notice are few; they consist chiefly of brief biographical notices in 
Brown's " Genesis of the United States," in the " Dictionary of National Biography " 
and in a pamphlet by Dr. James Pring of Plymouth, England, published in 1888. 
Articles in several periodicals and in Winsor's " Narrative and Critical History " 
are of varying merit; those by Dr. De Costa, however, are valuable for disputed 
matters in early American discovery. On close examination the whole sifts to 
comparatively little of determined value. Many gaps remain and much may still 
be open to debate; but no attempt has been made to proceed beyond the limit set 
by the evidence available. A bibliography of titles cited will be found at the close 
of the paper. 



youngest and last of the breed, gave sign of the stock 
from which he sprang. 

At the start of his essay " Of the True Greatness of 
the Kingdom of Britain " Sir Francis Bacon wisely 
says : " The just measure and estimate of the forces 
and power of an estate is a matter, than the which 
there is nothing among civil affairs more subject to 
error, nor that error more subject to perilous conse- 
quence."^ It would have been easy indeed to mistake 
the measure of England's power in the year when 
Martin Bring was born, for in 1580 modern England 
was approaching the first great crisis of her life. 
Not again till the day of Louis XIV or of Napoleon 
were the vital forces of the state to be so vehemently 
attacked from abroad. It is true that men were to 
dispute the nature of sovereignty and its proper loca- 
tion in the nation ; men were to make petitions, grand 
remonstrances, solemn covenants and declarations of 
right ; one king was to die for his prerogative and 
another was to lose his throne for his faith and 
conduct, yet throughout the long struggle of the 
seventeenth century the existence of England as an 
independent nation was never so vitally at stake as in 
the years when Martin Bring was coming to youth. 

Later Montesquieu was to write of the English as 
the people who above all others had known best how 
to "profit simultaneously by three great forces — relig- 
ion, commerce and liberty."^ For the problems which 
troubled England in 1580 were not of one category ; 



•Bacon: " Works," VII, p. 47. 
'"Esprit des lois," 1. XX, c. 7. 



nor did each stand separate ; rather did politics, relig- 
ion and economics form an equilateral, inseparable 
and fundamental, on which modern England was to 
rise a free, Protestant and maritime power. 

In the opening years of Elizabeth's rule there stood 
foremost the question of religion, disastrous legacy of 
earlier reigns. On the one hand was a body of Cath- 
olic bishops holding manfully to ancient dogma and 
tradition and attempting a loyal fealty to both Papal 
tiara and royal crown. On the other hand were those 
divines whom an exile on the continent, enforced by 
Mary's persecutions, had innoculated with a Calvinism 
hitherto foreign to English minds. Between the two 
was the great bulk of the English people. These 
" wished for a national church, independent of Rome, 
with simple services, not too unlike those to which 
they had been accustomed " before the will of Henry 
VIII had swept the church into the employ of his 
passions. Some must be dissatisfied whatever solu- 
tion be finally attained of the problem thus pro- 
pounded. One thing, however, was certain — Papal 
jurisdiction could not be revived in the domain of a 
queen to be adjudged illegitimate and heretical by 
Papal Europe. Another thing was desirable — 
namely, to proceed with such leisurely liberty as 
might allow men to compose their minds to a regime 
of discussion without animosity, yet with such order 
and sympathy that both ecclesiastical continuity and 
religious consciousness might find one roof to shelter 
them. For the nation had a conservative belief in 
God and wished opportunity and place to express that 



belief. The England of Elizabetli was a religious if 
not a pious country. Men might trade in slaves, 
range the seas as pirates, speak and write broadly, 
yet they rarely forgot to commend their souls to God 
or to thank Him who, in the words of Hawkins, the 
slave-trader, " preserveth his elect." Elizabeth knew 
her people well and nursed them in religious matters 
with the hope that a Catholic might still remain a 
patriot, though England might never again be 
Roman. ^ 

Despite the tortuous negotiations concerning her 
marriage and the succession to the throne Elizabeth 
emerged from them surrounded by a " personal loy- 
alty of unswerving devotion" on the part of men who 
conceived it their greatest pleasure to be the " instru- 
ment of her glory," their highest honor to merit her 
approval and their gravest duty to unite in enthusi- 
astic association to defend her person. By the spirit 
thus inspired men did things with a dash that had 
much of a swagger ; they learned to die with a grand 
manner. All England was ready to go crusading 
with Spenser in the name of the Faerie Queen. Sir 
Walter Raleigh as he entered Cadiz harbor and " all 
the Spanish forts and ships opened fire on him at 
once scorned to shoot a gun and made answer with a 
flourish of insulting trumpets." Again the Earl of 
Essex when the news reached him that the attack on 
Cadiz had been decided threw his hat overboard for 
pure joy, as a school boy would toss his hat in the air 
at the news of a holiday. Yet Essex was a peer of 

» Creighton: " Queen Elizabeth," pp. 47-49, et passim. 



the realm, a man of great possessions, who was to be 
allowed to risk his life.^ Sir Richard Grenville of 
the Revenge furnishes, perhaps, in the manner of his 
dying, the best example of them all. After his fight 
with the Spaniards off the Azores, at odds of one to 
fifty-three, crying at the end, in the words of the 
ballad 

" ' I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valliant man and true; 
I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do : 
With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die.' 
And he fell upon their decks, and he died." 

Against the personal charm and beauty of Mary 
Stuart, against the conspiracies of those Catholics to 
whom civil obedience was less than religious fanati- 
cism, against fears of Jesuit assassination and of for- 
eign invasion, Elizabeth had to match all the capacity 
of her mind, all the wisdom of her temporizing policy, 
and at the last to rest on the patience, affection and 
bravery of her people. And surely that patience was 
sorely tried by those outbreaks of petulant cruelty, of 
wayward despotism, by that practise of parsimony 
and hesitating compromise which checker her reputa- 
tion. At times politics sank to a " low level of 
absurdity " because of her wavering policy; yet at the 
crisis of her reign, when not only her fate but possi- 
bly the course of English history were in the balance, 
the entire nation rallied to her support and to the 
defence of the state. For the religious question, 
linked as it was to that of Elizabeth's marriage and 
the succession to the crown, had found a stern solution 

»Cf. Stevenson's Essay on the " English Admirals" in " Virginibua Puerisque ;" 
and Creighton : "Queen 'Eliz&heta," passim. 



in the political diflSculties whicli became clear to 
all in 1580. In that year, with Papal approval and 
Spanish furtherance, a plan was made to attack 
England through Ireland, through Scotland, and 
through conspiracy at home. The defeat of these 
endeavors and the execution of Mary Stuart cleared 
the way for the greater Spanish attack, the Invincible 
Armada. 

And here the economic interest, long efficient in 
the affairs of the nation, becomes essential to the 
course of events. Under its stimulus politics redis- 
covered an old trinity, that of commerce, colonies 
and sea-power. For in the Tudor period a great 
change took place in the material life of England. 
Where men had formerly planted crops they now 
pastured sheep, whose wool was to busy increasing 
looms. Where once Walter of Henley had written a 
" Treatise on Husbandry " John Hales now published 
a " Discourse on the Common Weal." Hakluyt was 
compiling the *' Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and 
Discoveries of the English Nation," and a few years 
later Thomas Mun was to defend and spread a new 
theory of national economy by writing his "Discourse of 
Trade" and "England's Treasure by Forraign Trade. "^ 
During the sixteenth century the place long held by 
manorial agriculture was suffering encroachment 

' Walter of Henley : " Le Dite de Hosebondrie " (edited by Lainond), London, 1890. 
Written during the XIII century. Cf . " Royal Hist. Sec. Trans." 1895, IX pp. 21B- 
21. J. Hales: " A discourse of the common weal of this realm of England," (edited 
by Laraond), Cambridge, 1893. Written 1549; first published 1581. Cf. Cunningham 
in " Econ. Jour." December, 1893. Hakluyt's first edition appeared in 1589; the com- 
pleted work was printed 1599-1600. Mun : " A Discourse of Trade from England unto 
the East Indies," was printed in 1621 and republished in Purchas, Vol. I ; "England's 
Treasure by Forraign Trade" was not published, however, till 1064. 



by new national industrial and commercial inter- 
ests ; and the domestic economy of mediaeval England 
was disappearing as the establishment of capital 
transformed the relations of land and labor. Great 
vistas were opening dimly to merchants in whom 
imagination and a spirit of adventure had been bred. 

The craft guilds, weakened by internal divisions 
and external changes, were surrendering the control 
of industry itself into the hands of the government. 
Enactments such as the Statute of Apprentices 
(1563) became part of a legislative code whose ration- 
ale "was the deliberate pursuit of national power." 
Foreign commerce, once intermunicipal, became inter- 
national. Chartered companies traded to all parts, 
each, however, under supervision and with carefully 
defined privileges or spheres of monopoly.^ An 
economic theory arose which, overlooking subtler laws 
of credit, regarded a flourishing export trade and a 
treasure store at home as essential signs of national 
prosperity and safety. Shipbuilding and the training 
of sailors became a national occupation ; and soon 
Bacon was to write that the " vantage of strength at 
sea (which is one of the principal dowries of this 

kingdom of Great Britain ) is great because 

the wealth of both Indies seems in great part but an 
accessory to the command of the seas."^ 

To draw to England, whether by arms or trade, the 
riches of America and Asia, became, therefore, a 
principle of the national economy. There followed 

•Cf. Cunningham: "Growthof English Industry and Commerce" (Modern Times, 
pt. 2 ) Section VI, parts 1 and 2. 

* Bacon : '♦ Works," VI, p. 451. 



naturally the establishment of plantations and facto- 
ries. Yet this system was not developed in a year ; 
and I have gone beyond the limits of Elizabeth's reign 
to show yovi to what purpose this policy was destined. 
Our concern is with the evolution of this system 
rather than with its completion or full operation ; 
our special interest lies with the men who supported, 
indeed created, this policy. For as pioneers of trade 
and colonization, as forerunners of companies and cor- 
porations, there came men, half statesman, half pirate, 
who by their personal endeavors were to lay the foun- 
dations of England's greatness as an industrial and 
commercial power. 

These Elizabethan seamen had been raiding to the 
Antipodes and the Spanish Main and plundering 
Spanish ships to such purpose that when the day of 
trial came Elizabeth found ready to her hand a fleet 
manned by crews, anxious to face the unequal odds 
offered by the Spanish Armada and able to assist the 
elements in a victory of supreme importance to our 
race. For a new England grew out of that great 
struggle, and the Queen, who had found the country 
" dispirited, divided and uncertain " saw toward the 
close of her reign a proud, united and confident peo- 
ple, possessed by a sense of national self-conscious- 
ness, which was to mark the age with a freshness and 
vigor all its own. The new England had found itself. 

n. 

Martin Pring was eight years old when the men of 
his race and in particular the men of his own shire, 

10 



Devon, went out to meet the Spanish fleet ; he was 
eleven when Sir Richard Grenville won death and 
everlasting glory in his fight off the Azores. As he 
came to manhood the older men were telling their 
tales of wild raids and rich plunder ; but the younger 
men talked of the new companies formed for the 
Russia, the Levant, the Barbary and the Guinea 
trades, of prospects of further discoveries, of coloni- 
zation and of commerce ; yet young and old alike 
familiar with the Spanish Main and curious for the 
Spice Islands and the Norumbega shore. Small won- 
der then that Pring chose the sea ; but greater honor 
that amid such competition as the period forced he 
soon won his way to command. He gained the confi- 
dence of Richard Hakluyt, compiler of the "prose 
epic of the modern English nation," and of John 
Whitson, twice mayor of Bristol and four times mem- 
ber of Parliament, and thus the patronage of the Mer- 
chant Adventurers of Bristol. This was manifest 
when at the age of twenty-three Captain Pring was 
placed in charge of a venture to Virginia. It was in 
1603, the year in which Francis Bacon was knighted 
and William Shakespere's play, the " Taming of the 
Shrew," was first enacted. In this year also the 
Queen died, as if for sign that a new age in English 
history was at hand.^ 

1 The Russia or Muscovy Co. was chartered in 1554; the Eastland Co. in 1579; the 
Levant or Turkey Co. in 1681 ; the Barbary or Morocco Co. in 1585; the first Guinea 
Co. in 1588; and the East India Co. in 1600. Cf. Cunningham: op. cit. "Modern 
Times " pt. I, pp. 234 et seq. ; Cawston and Keane : " Early Chartered Companies." 
On the commerce and importance of Bristol at this time see Anderson: "Origin of 
Commerce," II, pp. 48, 106, 151-52. For biographical sketches of Whitson and Pring 
see " Dictionary of National Biography," and Brown : " Genesis of U. S.", II, pp. 972, 
1052. Cf. also Pring: " Captaine Martin Priuge," p. 8. Martin Pring was probably 
born in the parish of Awliscombe near Honiton, Devon, in 1580. 

11 



Voyages to Virginia were large matters in those 
days ; but Captain Pring, as tlie record reads, was 
regarded as "a man very suflGicient for tlie place." 
His destination was to be the northern part of Vir- 
ginia, Norumbega as some called it, where during the 
century past some half a dozen known discoveries had 
been made by Englishmen. In 1527 John Rut had 
seen off Newfoundland a flock of French fishing-ves- 
sels ; and later John Hore of London had sailed after 
him. Thirty years were to pass and Ingram by his 
fantastic tales of a city of silver and crystal on the 
Penobscot gave the New England region the reputa- 
tion of the land of Eldorado. Others followed and 
soon Sir Humphrey Gilbert, that flower of Elizabethan 
chivalry, gave up his life in an attempt to plant in 
Norumbega. A year after that melancholy event, in 
1584, the Queen was pleased, as the result of a voyage 
by Amidas and Barlow to the southern coast, to name 
the whole region Virginia for herself and to bestow 
in conjunction with Parliament an ample patent for 
that country upon Sir Walter Raleigh. Then the 
struggle with Spain came on to engross English ener- 
gies ; the Atlantic became the scene of a vast naval 
struggle ; and within four years the Spaniards had 
lost 800 ships. But a further attempt to plant in 
Virginia had again failed. 

Yet many vessels had in the meantime crossed the 
ocean to the Banks to fish and to the mainland to get 
furs. Finally with larger purpose came Gosnold in 
1602 and with him Bartholomew Gilbert. Their voyage 
led them in accordance with Verrazano's directions 

12 



by the direct passage to the main ; then turning 
southward they made Cape Cod and at last Cutty- 
hunk in the Elizabeth Islands. With a store of sassa- 
fras root and cedar boards they returned to England 
only to lose their profits at the hands of Sir Walter 
Raleigh, promoter and monopolist. For he claimed 
the venture as an infringement of his patent, protest- 
ing also that the sudden dumping on the market of a 
full cargo of the root would greatly lower the price, 
which at that time ranged as high as twenty shillings 
the pound. This unauthorized attempt to plunder 
had for our purposes one merit in that, profiting by 
such example, the Bristol merchants, who were to 
father Pring's endeavors, first secured a license for 
the venture from Sir Walter. Further, Robert Sal- 
terne, who had been pilot to Gosnold, was engaged to 
go with Pring.^ 

The account of this first voyage made by Pring to 
America, as published in Purchas, though credited to 
Pring is obviously not all by the same hand. In the 
first two paragraphs and the last Pring is referred to 
in the third person ; and his own statements begin 
only with the departure from Mi] ford Haven on April 
10 and do not include the record of the home voyage. 
It seems probable that the relation reached Purchas 

1 Winsor : " Narrative and Critical History," III, pp. 169-218, especially pp. 173-174, 
188-189. Pring: " Captaine Martin Fringe," pp. 16 18. Brown: op. cit. I, p. 26: II., 
pp. 896, 904; and "Dictionary of Nat. Biog.," see Oosncld, B. Gilbert and Pring. 
Brereton's and Archer's relation of Gosnold's voyage are in " Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll." 
3rd series, VIII. Cf . De Costa in " Mag. of Am. Hist.," X, p. 146. One only of Gos- 
nold's party saved his share by entering Raleigh's service; this was not Gosnold as 
Dr. De Costa has it, but Bartholomew Gilbert who in the year following lost his life 
in Chesapeake Bay. The statements in Bancroft: " Hist, of U. S.," (Orig. ed.), I, 
pp. 129-30, in Palfrey: "Hist, of New Eng.," I, pp. 73-75, and in Belknap: "Am. 
Biog.," II, pp. 228-37, appear to be in need of correction. 

13 



among Hakluyt's papers. There was also a Dutch 
abstract made of it by Gottfried and published by 
Van der Aa ; this edition was embellished by a copper 
plate representing an Indian attack. The mistaken 
geographical interpretations which once obscured the 
history of this voyage have now been corrected and 
the identification with Plymouth Harbor of Whitson 
Bay, as Pring called his final haven in honor of the 
mayor of Bristol, has been so successfully accom- 
plished by Dr. De Costa that it need not detain us at 
present.' 

The expedition consisted of two ships, the Speed- 
well of fifty tons and the Discoverer of half that bur- 
then, the two manned by less than fifty crew ; they 
were laden with " slight merchandizes thought fit to 
trade with the people of the Countrey," hats of divers 
colors, clothing, tools and lesser toys — beads and 
bells, looking-glasses and thimbles. By the voyagers 
the beauties of the Maine coast were well remarked, 
the value of the fisheries and of the lumber ; but 
though small explorations were made in Casco Bay, 
the main purpose was not secured till good sassafras 
was found within Cape Cod. Here experiments in 
agriculture were made to discover the excellent qual- 
ity of soil and climate, the abundance of fruit being 
a special cause of satisfaction. Here the Indians 
were seen first, dances were given for them, and all 
went well till near the end when a treacherous attack 

1 In addition to materials noted under the last footnote the main sources for this 
voyage are in Purchas: " His Pilgrimes," IV, pp. 1654-56; V., p. 829. Salterne's rela- 
tion is given in J. Smith: "General Historie of Virginia," (Arber's reprint), p. 336. 
Cf . De Costa in " Mag. of Am. Hist.," VIII, pp. 807 et seq., 840, ct seq., and in " New 
Eng. Hist, and Gen. Reg.," XXXII, pp. 76 et seq. 

14 



on the voyagers was attempted. On this occasion 
two great mastiffs brought from Elngland were useful 
in dispersing the savages. The sassafras root with 
which both ships were laden was highly esteemed at 
this time in England as a remedy for serious plagues 
and fever and was sometimes called the ague root. 
By October all were safely home, bringing profit and 
information to the patrons of the venture. 

Voyages such as this showed that the day of 
Hawkins and Drake had passed for America ; that 
the buccaneers were becoming merchants ; that plan- 
tations would soon take the place of piracy and that 
a new England bent on commercial advancement and 
colonial expansion was now in the making. Indeed, 
what may possibly be direct indication of this change 
is to be found in the use by Pring of the Speedwell, a 
west of England pinnace. A vessel of the same name 
and tonnage, hailing from the same part of England, 
was in Sir Francis Drake's fleet employed by him in 

1587 for that characteristic raid in Cadiz, which he 
described as " singeing the beard of the King of 
Spain." Furthermore Drake had under his command 
in the fight with the Armada in the next year a ship 
of approximately the same tonnage, also called the 
Speedwell, Hugh Hardinge, Master, apparently one of 
many merchantmen which either were volunteered or 
were chartered for sj^ecial service. It seems fair to 
assume that the same boat is referred to in 1587 and 

1588 and if so the question of her identity with Pring's 
ship becomes the more interesting. In any event, 
that two or perhaps three ships whose similarity is so 

15 



marked as to suggest possible identity should have 
been put to this variety of employment within sixteen 
years ( 1587-1603 ) is significant of the change taking 
place in all England/ 

Pring's next great voyage was to the Guiana coast 
in 1604 as master in the Phoenix of Charles Leigh's 
ill-fated expedition. In turning thus from Virginia 
to Guiana Pring gives further proof of his lineage. 
For Sir Walter Raleigh was to show the interests of 
his time by likewise transferring his ventures from 
the Chesapeake to the Orinoco. Pring was drawn in 
the later Elizabethan manner. Those of you who are 
fortunate enough to retain clear memories of " West- 
ward Ho ! " that finest of Elizabethan tales, will recall 
the dangers and privations endured by the wanderers 
in South American forests. To such the story of the 
reckless yet gallant ventures, the terrible sufferings 
and pitiful rescue of Charles Leigh's party, will 
afford an interesting parallel. It is all written out 
in the fourth volume of Purchas. Pring, however, 
showed himself to be more sensible if less loyal than 
others ; for when he found that despite of the climate, 
the lack of victuals and the desperate character of the 
endeavor, Leigh was firm to colonize, he led a party 
in mutiny and finally was quit of the whole matter by 

'Laughton: "The Spanish Armada," II, pp. 182, 326. The variations in measure- 
ment of tonnage make it possible to disregard a difference of ten tons, p. 323. 
Clowes: "Hist, of Royal Navy,"!, pp. 423, 487, 591. Corbett: " Drake and the Tudor 
Navy," II, p. 68 n. Oppenheim: " Adm. of the Royal Navy," pp. 120, 123, 139, 160, 
163, 202, 203, 214, 251 n. The two pinnaces mentioned in the text should not be con- 
fused with the galley Speedwell, built at Woolwich in 1569 and carried on the navy 
list till 1579, nor with the 400-ton Speedwell to be found on the navy list of James 1 ; 
she was formerly the Swif tsure, rebuilt in 1607, but was lost near Flushing in Novem- 
ber, 1624. The use of private vessels by the government was frequent; in 1588 there 
were 163 not on the royal navy list but either in pay or in use for the struggle in the 
Channel. 

16 



sailing Lome in an Amsterdam ship that chanced on 
that coast. The rest of the party were with difficulty 
persuaded to remain, and within two years Leigh 
himself and many more were dead of disease and 
want ; others were in Spanish prisons, and less than 
a dozen out of the whole ship's company returned 
direct to England. 

These events, however, did not in any way affect 
Pring's reputation, if we may judge of it by his next 
employment. This was at the hands of Sir John 
Popham, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
At his appointment Pring was to make a second voy- 
age to North America and to spend some weeks in a 
careful examination of the Maine coast. The purpose 
of this expedition, moreover, was no mere matter of 
cedar boards or sassafras root. It resulted in fact 
from a carefully reasoned plan of colonization bred in 
the mind of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Governor of 
Plymouth, by earnest talk held by him with certain 
Pemaquid Indians. These Captain AVaymouth had 
brought back in 1605 from St. George's Harbor. As 
Sir Ferdinando later wrote — these savages were 
" the means, under God, of putting on foot and giving 
life to all our plantations."^ 

iPurchas: IV, pp. 1253 etseq., 1260. Cf. Brown: op. cit., I, p. 27; II, p. 937. A 
relief expedition sent in 1605 by Sir Olive Leigh to his brother, Captain Charles 
Leigh, in Guiana, never reached there. Capt. Leigh died March 20, 1605. On July 2 
he had written to the Privy Council in England that he was " resolved to remain 
with 40 men and return the rest for England. The natives desire that he will send 
for men to teach them to pray. Doubts not but God hath a wonderful work in this 
simple-hearted people. Beseeches the Council to send over well-disposed 
preachers." Cal. State Papers, Colonial, America: Vol. I, ( 1574-1660 ) p. 5. 

2 Gorges : " Advanceipent of Plantations," p. 50. For Waymouth see " Mass. Hist. 
Soc. Coll.," 3rd series, VIII; Burrage in " Gorges Soc. Publ.," 1887. For Popham see 
"Diet, of Nat. Biog." and Brown: op. cit., II, p. 969. 

17 



As a preliminary private colonization was aban- 
doned, and in April, 1606, a charter passed the royal 
seals for the incorporation of two companies to colo- 
nize in Virginia. For the " plantation and habita- 
tion " of the northern part of Virginia, as the charter 
reads, " sundry Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants and 
other Adventurers of our cities of Bristol and Exeter, 
and of our Town of Plimouth " were empowered to 
send out an expedition.^ Sir John Popham, who had 
himself probably drawn the first draft of this charter, 
chose in October of the same year, Captain Martin 
Pring, a Devonshire man, to join in this Devonshire 
venture and to make a voyage to America. There 
Pring was to meet Captain Challons ( or Challoung ), 
who had already sailed in August with special direc- 
tions from Sir FerdiDando Gorges. Together they 
were to choose a site for the new colony. These 
arrangements, however, miscarried ; for Challons 
failed to reach the rendezvous. He had been 
instructed to cross to Cape Breton and then to follow 
the coast southward till he should find a suitable 
location and meet with Pring near the entrance to 
Penobscot Bay. But contrary winds forced him from 
the northern routes to the West Indies ; after several 
delays at Porto Rico his ship was seized by the Span- 
ish authorities and he and a part of his ship's com- 
pany were carried prisoners to Spain.^ 

iMacDonald: " Select Charters," pp. 1-11. 

2 Purchas: IV, pp. 1832 et seq.; "Cal. State Papers," Col. Am., Vol. I, (1574 1C60) p. 6; 
Brown: op. cit.. I, pp. 64, 96, 98, 127. Strachey in his " Historic of Travaille into 
Virginia," p. 163, is responsible for the statement that Pring was captured by the 
Spanish, thus confusing Challons and Pring. 

18 



Captain Pring, on tlie other hand, who had the same 
instructions as did Challons, happily arrived on the 
Maine coast. He had with him one of Waymouth's 
Indians, Damheda by name ; and not hearing by any 
means what had become of Challons he began to 
explore. To quote again from Gorges : Pring " after 
he had made a perfect discovery of all those rivers 
and harbors he was informed of by his instructions, 
( the season of the year requiring his return ) brings 
with him the most exact discovery of that coast that 
ever came to my hands since ; and indeed he was the 
best able to perform it of any I ever met withal to 
this present, which with his relation of the same 
wrought such an impression in the Lord Chief Jus- 
tice and us all that were his associates that notwith- 
standing our first disaster we set up our resolutions 
to follow it with effect and that upon better grounds 
for as yet our authority was but in motion."^ Earlier 
in the " Brief Relation of the President and Council 
of New England " [ 1622 ] a similar statement had 
been made, to wit — that on hearing Pring's relation 
of this voyage " the lord chief justice, and we all 
waxed so confident of the business, that the year fol- 
lowing ( 1607 ) every man of any worth formerly 
interested in it was willing to join in the charge for 
the sending over a competent number of people to lay 
the ground of a hopeful plantation."^ As the result, 
therefore, of Pring's encouraging information and 
despite Challons' failure, Sir John Popham "failed 

1 Gorges: " Advancement of Plantations," pp. 51-53. 
2 " Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.," 2nd Series, IX, p. 3. 

19 



not to interest many of the lords and others to be 
petitioners to his Majesty for his royal authority, for 
setting two plantations upon the coast of America."^ 
What success this further attempt to colonize in 
Maine met with I leave to the historians of the Saga- 
dahoc settlement to relate. 

For our purposes let me point out to you, first, that 
it was only because Challons failed to obey his orders 
that Pring was unable to share in the honor of found- 
ing the first English settlement on the mainland of 
New England ; second, that failing this, Pring was 
nevertheless the instrument by which the plan gained 
perseverence to another attempt ; and lastly, that in 
the opinion of Gorges, writing many years later out 
of a full experience of men and affairs, Pring was of 
all the men of that manly time the ablest in discovery 
and relation. This relation unfortunately has been 
lost, but other explorers made use of it, for on a map 
drawn by the King's surveyor in 1610 are many places 
marked by virtue of Pring's knowledge. His name 
of Whitson Bay is shown thereon, for it was not till 
four years later that the Dutch suggested Crane Bay 
and Captain John Smith fixed on Plymouth Harbor 
as a name for the roadstead first discovered in 1603 
by their predecessor, the Bristol captain.^ 

HI. 

If all this be so you may well ask why we hear noth- 
ing more of Captain Pring in the further exploration 

'Gorges: op. cit., p. 53. 

'^ De Costa in " Mag. Am. Hist.," VIII, pp. 655 etseq.; Brown: op. cit., I, pp. 99, 

457-59. 

20 



and colonization of New England. The answer is 
to be found in the widening interests of English- 
men. The partial closing of the old trade routes 
between Asia and Europe during the fifteenth cen- 
tury and the burdensome restrictions and costly tar- 
iffs laid on eastern trade had well nigh precipitated 
an economic crisis. Asiatic trade had for centuries 
been one of the most profitable as well as one of the 
most extensive of commercial investments ; and the 
supply of spices from the oriental tropics had become 
a necessity both for the preservation of food and to 
render it palatable to the gastronomic taste of Europe. 
The northern peoples do not seem to have been 
attracted by the possibilities of unseasoned vegeta- 
rianism ; and fashion of flavors as well as the lack of 
satisfactory methods of refrigeration in southern 
Europe made the situation there even more acute. 
Nor did the prospect grow better as the close of 
the century came nearer. For while the Ottoman 
advance had partially closed the routes which opened 
on the Black and ^Egean Seas, the unsettled condition 
of Syria made trade uncertain by the Persian routes. 
The Red Sea route, so long the golden channel of 
Muslim monopoly, might have sufficed had» it not 
been for the mistaken policy of the independent 
Mamluk sultans of Egypt. As early as 1428 these 
inaugurated a heavy tariff on oriental goods bound 
for Italian ports and made pepper a state monopoly. 
Other spices were soon added and even sugar was 
subjected to close growth and manufacture. By 
1443 the opinions of the theological jurists of Cairo 

21 



had been secured in defence of the system ; and 
to-day it seems doubtful whether the Ottoman con- 
quest of Egyptian dominions ( 1516-17 ) had immedi- 
ately much worse results for this intercontinental 
trade than had already followed the policy of the 
Circassian dynasty.^ 

These facts were in large part responsible for the 
rapid geographical advance of the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries. The disappearance of domestic 
economy and the restoration of capitalism required 
larger fields for investment and at the same time 
urged on the search for new supplies of bullion. 
While these operated generally the geographical sit- 
uation, the religious feeling and the traditional polit- 
ical policy of Portugal were such as to make the 
success of her sailors in African waters a natural 
sequent to her history. The stimulus thus derived 

1 For suggestive comment on the spice trade vide Robinson : " Western Europe," 
p. 348. The economic policy of the Mamluk sovereigns is referred to in Muir: 
"The Mameluke or Slave Dynasty of Egypt," pp. 14'2, 153. Though of uncertain 
value because of changes in money values, the price of pepper in England is worth 
noting: 1412, pepper was 4s. a pound, though in 1411 Parliament had fixed the price 
at Is. 8d. In this year a pound of standard silver was worth £1 10s. Od. (Cotton: 
" Abridgement," p. 482; Walshingham, p. 381, quoted by Macpherson: "Annals," 
IV, App. II and III). In 1512 with silver about 10s. a pound higher, pepper was 
Is. 4d. In 1559 it was 2d. an ounce and silver was at £3; in 1598 near Christmas, pep- 
per was 8s. a pound {Stowe: " Annales," p. 130 ). Between 1597 and 1599 the Dutch 
had raised the price from 3 to Cs. a pound on pepper which probably had not cost 
more than 6d. Macpherson: "Commerce with India," pp. 77, 82; Birdwood: "Old 
Records " ( ed. 1891 ), p. 199; Hunter: " British India," I, pp. 241, 279. I have chosen 
pepper because it was one of the cheapest spices but very generally used. The 
rapid rise in the price of pepper at the close of the sixteenth century is paralleled 
by that of other more expensive spices. It is evident that both Macpherson and 
Birdwood believe it was the immediate cause of the meetings on September 22 and 
24, 1599, of certain London merchants which led to the chartering of a British East 
India Co. Of. Stevens: " Dawn of British Trade," pp. 1-7. Both the influence of 
English participation in the spice trade and the great profit from it can be seen from 
the prices given by Malynes in his "Center of the Circle of Commerce" (1623) 
quoted by Cawston and Keane: "Chartered Companies," p. 96. 

Cost in the Indies per lb. Sold in England per lb. 
Pepper os. 2>id. la. 8d. 

Cloves 9 5 

Nutmegs 4 3 

Mace 8 6 

22 



carried them to a greater achievement by the end of 
the fifteenth century and once in Asiatic waters they 
were able to deprive the Arabs of the monopoly of 
the spice trade. At the same time the Portuguese did 
not attempt the distribution of oriental products in 
Europe. The profitable trade of the middleman fell 
to the Dutch. It followed that the submersion of 
Portuguese interests in those of Spain aroused both 
Dutch and English to a further realization of the lim- 
itations they had hitherto endured. While the inde- 
pendent search for northeastern and northwestern 
passages to the East was not abandoned, the desire 
to use the Cape of Good Hope route closed to deter- 
mination by the end of the sixteenth century. The 
search under Spanish auspices for a free route to 
Asia had already led to an unintentional and for a 
time unconscious discovery of America, as the new 
world was afterwards called. But Europe then fronted 
not to the Atlantic but to Asia ; for many years men 
were to seek the " backside of America " where lay 
the " Kingdomes of Cataya or China " ; and in the 
closing years of Elizabeth's reign the chartering of 
the East India Company marked the inauguration of 
a policy, which though new in form, was intimately 
related with many of the previous American ventures. 
English merchants now asked for more than uncertain 
piracy in the West ; they hoped to develop a regular 
commercial inliercourse with the East.^ 

'The instructions of the East India Co. to Waymouth in April, 1602, for his Amer- 
ican voyage in search of a passage to Asia, contain the following passage — " or as 
he shall fynde the Passage best to lye towards the parts or kingedomes of Cataya or 
China or ye backside of America." Stevens : " Dawn of British Trade to the East 
Indies," p. 212. 

23 



Were all the other years of Elizabeth's reign a 
blank in our history, the granting of the charter for 
the East India Company would nevertheless make 
her reign a landmark in the history of the world. 
For this company, the greatest corporation the world 
has ever seen, was destined to work a change in mod- 
ern world-politics to which that resulting from the 
establishment and development of the United States 
is alone comparable. Indeed the connection of these 
imperial merchants with the creation of English estab- 
lishments in America is in some respects so close that 
it is surprising greater attention has not been given 
to it. Many whose names are familiar to students of 
our colonial period figure in the early operations of 
the British in Asia ; and American ventures often 
served to train the men who were to lay the founda- 
tions of British Empire in the East. Among those 
who responded to this broadening of the field of Brit- 
ish activities and thus transferred their interests from 
America to Asia was Captain Bring. 

IV. 

The exact 3'ear in which Bring entered the East 
India service is unknown. Bossibly it was soon after 
the death, in 1607, of his former patron, the Lord 
Chief Justice. The first certain mention we find is 
of his appointment as master of a large new ship, in 
1614. It is perhaps doubtful whether he would have 
got so important a post were that to be his first ven- 
ture in Asiatic waters ; however, no mention of him 
as going to sea under the auspices of any recognized 

24 



authority from 1606 to 1614 has been as yet discov- 
ered. Pring's new ship was the New Year's Gift, of 
550 tons, " armed and strongly built for trade or 
war," bound then to India on her maiden voyage. 
She was to act as the flag of a squadron of four ships 
making in that year the first voyage of the newly- 
formed "joint stock." ^ 

From 1600 to 1612 the trade of the East India 
Company had been carried on by a series of so-called 
separate voyages. One or more ships would be out- 
fitted as a distinct venture and the accounts of each 
fleet would be kept separate. Such an expedition 
was theoretically complete in itseK and on the return 
the profits of each venture were divided among those 
of the Company who had supplied the capital. In 
1612, however, a system of joint stock subscriptions 
was proposed by which several voyages during a 
number of years were made possible by largely 
increased investments. The first attempt under this 
system resulted in a capitalization of £429,000 of 
which this first voyage of the joint stock represented 
an investment of £106,000. Eighteen thousand eight 
hundred and ten pounds in money and £12,446 in 
goods were exported ; and the cost of ships, the 
maintenance, the supplies and the extraordinary 
expenses involved represented the remainder. While 
the average profit for four voyages, 1613-1616, was 

^This voyage is aometimes called the second, and though it did not sail till 1614 is 
technically the " voyage of 1618." " Letters Received by the E. I. Co." Ill, pp. 175, 
3'26; Markham: "Voyages of Sir James Lancaster," Hakluyt Soc. Publ., Vol. LVI, 
p. 15; Hunter: " Hist. British India," I, p. 307; " Cal. of State Papers, Colonial E. I., 
( 1513-1616 )" p. 270. On Jan. 17, 1614, ( " Court Minutes of E. I. Co.") : " Thirty great 
ordinance for the New Year's Gift." Pring condemned for not having performed 
his promise to lie on board." 

25 



to be 87| per cent, on £429,000, the dividends on the 
voyage of 1G13 were to be 120 per cent, and Pring's 
cargo v^hich had cost £9,000 in the East was to be 
sold in England for £80,000.i 

The profits were great but so also was the risk. 
The Company, however, took every possible precau- 
tion, and to make this particular investment as sure 
as might be had placed in command Nicholas Down- 
ton, a tried man who had served with distinction as 
second to Sir Henry Middleton on the sixth separate 
voyage, in 1610.^ Downton's instructions gave him 
ample power for the maintenance of discipline ; and, 
though he was directed to seek no quarrel with Euro- 
pean competitors on the other side the Cape, he was 
charged to " suffer no spoyle to be made of any goods 
or merchandize " committed to his care, and, if 
attacked because of the " emulation and envye which 
doth accompanye the discouerye of Countryes and 
trades," to defend the pretensions and desires of the 
English as best he might.^ 

Such language was to the point ; for then, as later 
in the eighteenth centuiy, small attention was paid 
by Europeans in either Asia or America to the dip- 
lomatic agreements of the home countries. Peace in 
Europe was often no check to rivalry and bloodshed 
in foreign establishments. As in the West England 
was to struggle for commercial and political suprem- 
acy with Spain and France, she was already the rival 

> Bruce: "Annals," I, pp. 166-7; Hunter: op. clt., I, p. 307. 

■"' Letters Ucceivod by the K. I. Co.," I, pp. l<i5-92, passim, and pp. 241-61; "Cal. 
Stote rapera. Col. E. I., ( 1513-1016)," No8. 629, 668. 
» Birdwood and Foster: '• First Letter Book," pp. 449-62. 

26 



in the East of Portugal and Holland. In India and 
the Far East native states and rulers were being 
drawn into these quarrels ; and there was likely to be 
as much of diplomacy and war as of seamanship and 
trade in the successful conduct of a voyage to Asiatic 
waters. In India the Mughal iMnpire, no longer ruled 
by an Akbar, was nevertheless still strong enough to 
check the pest of eager I^uropean seekers for the spoil 
of a peninsula, richer in that day than many a conti- 
nent. An I'^nglishman must still be a beggar for 
permission to trade in the domain of the great 
Muhammadan state, while foreign rivals, whether ])y 
intrigue or open attack, sought to make the task 
harder. The first stage in the struggle for privilege 
was to pass in the second decade of the seventeenth 
century. Portugal was to give way to England, thus 
leaving for a time the Dutch as sole rivals of power 
to contest for the trade of India with the merchants 
of London. 

In 1G12 Captain Best had made a running fight of 
near a month against the vastly superior forces of the 
Portuguese, and in that time had broken in the minds 
of the natives "the reputation the Portuguese had 
won in India by the sea achievements of a hundred 
years." ^ But the issue was still in doubt ; a defeat 
would lose the Imglish all they had gained and they 
well knew that Portugal would not abandon her pri- 
macy and monopoly without a stubborn fight. It 

' Hunter: op. clt., I, p. 303. DeHpatchei deacribing thla fight are to be found In 
" Letters It<;(;eived by the K. J. Co.," I, pp. 2.13 et eeq.; U, p. l.W; i'urchan: I, pp. 4W 
et Heq.,Aifi. etseq.; "Cal. State I'aperB, (Jol. K. f. (1613-](;ie)," Noa.638, WJ. The accountB 
In Low: " Indian Navy," I, pp. 13-14; CIowch: " Iloyal Navy," 11, i»p. 3a-84, have been 
corrected in Hunter. Cf. JJruce; " Annals," I, p. 103. 

27 



could, therefore, have been with no surprise that 
Downton heard, soon after his squadron reached the 
Swally roads, off Surat, that the Portuguese viceroy 
at Goa was equipping a great force against him/ 

Surat was then the headquarters for the English 
trade in the Mughal Empire ; but the Company's 
hold on the native governor was slight and the 
Emperor's policy was itself uncertain and largely 
dependent on the outcome of the immediate future. 
A brief explanation of the exact situation will make 
this clearer. The victory of Captain Best in 1612 
and the favorable reception thus won by the English 
had grieved the Portuguese, who in revenge had in 
September, 1613, taken a native ship of Surat, lately 
come from the Red Sea, " being richly laden, ahnost 
to the value of a hundred thousand pounds, and car- 
ried her away, and ahnost 700 persons in her ; by 
which means none of them [the Portuguese] dare 
appear in those parts as they were wont, insomuch 
that had we [ the English ] shipping here now from 
England we should strike all dead," because this con- 
duct " hath made them odious " to the natives.^ 
Jahangir, the Emperor, retaliated by causing Daman, 
a Portuguese post, to be besieged by Mukarrab Khan, 
the local governor, and by giving " order for the seiz- 
ing of all Portingals and their goods within his king- 

1 Hunter: ( I, p. 308 n.) states that the journal of Pring's ship, the New Year's 
Gift, is still preserved in the India OflQce " Marine Records," 1605-1701. For the 
voyage to India and the movements of this ship ( March, 1614-8pring of 1616 ) see 
Purchas: I, pp. 500 et aeq., 516, 629; " Letters Received, etc.," Vols. II, III and IV; 
and " Cal. State Papers, Col. ( 1513-1616 )" paesim, by index references to the name. 

2 Aldwortb to Marlowe, Nov. 9, 1613, " Letters Received, etc.," I, p. 308. Cf . Dan- 
vers: " Portuguese in India," II, p. 162. States the ship belonged to the Emperor. 

28 



doms." Their churches were closed, and " Xavier, 
the great Jesuit, whom before he loved," was dis- 
missed ; and other Indian rulers were incited to 
attack Portuguese establishments. The English in 
the meantime were in great favor. But since no 
English ships came to trade, the natives soon longed 
for peace and doubted " whether it were not wiser to 
yield to the viceroy's demands and expel the Eng- 
lish." Such was the temper of the times when 
Downton cast anchor, in October, 1614. Great was 
the joy of the English agents ; and eager the wish of 
Mukarrab Khan to use Downton's force for the war 
against the Portuguese. But Downton, mindful of 
his instructions, would not agree, and the situation 
became even more difficult. Finally the knot was 
cut by the attack of the Portuguese ; and Downton 
once fairly on the defence made ready to fight for the 
hope of English leadership in western India.^ 

The English squadron of four ships, with 400 
crew, carried 80 guns, but their caliber was inferior 
to that of the Portuguese armaments. The viceroy, 
Don Hierome de Azevedo, had under his command 
the entire naval strength of Portuguese India, assem- 
bled for this struggle, consisting of eight galleons, 
five lesser ships and sixty " frigates " or rowed barges 
carrying thirty fighting men apiece and eighteen oars 
on a side. The whole was manned by native crews 

I" Letters Received, etc.," II, pp. 18, 96 e« seq-., 104, 130, 137-39, 148 et seq., 156,187-172, 
178,185. The .Jesuit, Xavier, is not, of course, Francis Xavier, ( Cal. State Papers, 
E. I., ( 1513-1616 ) No. 763 ), as the editor of " Letters Received, etc.," ( II, p. 96 and 
index at Xavier ) appears to think. He was probably Jerome Xavier, a nephew of 
St. Francis; at least a priest of that name was for long a favorite at the court of 
Akbar. Yale : " Cathay and the Way Thither," II, pp. 632, 552. 

29 



to tlie number of 6,000, witli 2,600 Europeans free to 
work the 134 guns wliicli the fleet mounted.^ This 
force began to assemble in the end of December and 
by January 18, 1615, Downton's small fleet was well- 
nigh blockaded in the Tapti Estuary ( apparently in 
what is known to-day as Sutherland Channel.) The 
odds were those which would have appealed to Sir 
Richard Grenville. Downton had decided at the 
council held aboard the New Year's Gift to await 
attack near the shallower waters of the roadstead 
where the larger Portuguese ships would be at a dis- 
advantage ; but in this he must have acted contrary 
to the bolder judgment of Pring, who later wrote of 
his regret in having been caught at Swally, agreeing 
with Sir Thomas Roe that it would have been better 
to have forced a passage to open sea and there in a 
" more spacious place" have beaten the Portugalles 
like a man.^ 

However that may be, Downton, if not reckless, was 
far-sighted enough to realize the import of the whole 
matter. For he wrote in his diary : " My care is not 

iPurchas: l,j)j). 505 et seq., 519; " Cal. State Papers, Col. E. I. 1513-1616," No. 935; 
" Letters Received, etc.," II, p. 137; Clowes: " Royal Navy," II, p. 35; Low: •' Indian 
Navy," I, p. 19, who follows Orme : " Oriental Fragments." Orme follows Purchas and 
the account by Faria de Souza; by the latter Is apparently meant Manuel Faria y 
Sousa: " Asia Portugueza, 3 Vols., 1674. This work is largely based on Karros and 
Couto: " Decadas, etc." An English translation by Stevens was made in 1695 of 
Sousa with much omitted. ( "Whiteway : " Rise of Portuguese Power in India," p. 14.) 
Danvers: " Portuguese in India," II, pp. 170-171; though no authorities are cited 
Danvers has evidently depended largely on Portuguese sources, and offers some 
explanation of the discrepancies found elsewhere as to numbers. Two fleets united 
in the attack on Downton, and this is not noted elsewhere. In Hunter: " Hist, of 
British India," I, p. 321, Lewis followed, but the statement of 234 guns for the Portu- 
guese is obviously a misprint. Unfortunately, the Portuguese authorities are not at 
band to enable me to follow the statements further. The superiority of the Portu- 
guese fleet is, however, beyond question. I have taken the figures given by Purchas 
and modified them somewhat by other sources. 

-Foster: " Sir Thomas Roe," II, p. 417 n. 

30 



small, how to do my best in maintaining the Honour 
of my Country, not negligent in the memory of the 
estates and charge of friends and employers in this 
journey ; not only for the hazard of this at present 
committed to my charge but also all hope of future 
times, if I should now be overthrown ; by reason the 
enemy in getting the upper hand of me would make 
his peace with these people upon what he lust to 
the expelling my nation this country forever." Two 
things, however, he continued, were his comfort at 
this juncture : " My people, though much with death 
and sickness shortened, all from the highest to the 
lowest seems very courageous and comfortable and 
ever as I could be solitary I craved very earnestly 
aide and assistance from the Lord of hosts and from 
that mighty and merciful God who hath manifold 
wayes formerly delivered me, often I say, desiring 
his Majesty so to guide and direct me that I might 
omit nothing which might tend to the safety of 
my owne charge nor the danger of the enemy and 
that God would grant my request I had a strong 
confidence."^ 

On January 20 the fighting began and so skillful 
were the English captains in the handling of their 
vessels and so accurate was the English gun fire that 
the viceroy drew off with heavy losses. A blockade 
of nearly three weeks followed till with reinforce- 
ments the Portuguese on February 8 came driving 
up on the flood against the English fleet, only to 
make away again as fast as they might from the 

1 Furctaas : op. cit. I, p. 506. 

31 



deadly fire of Downton's guns. Two days later the 
viceroy fell off in disgust, and on February 13 the 
Armada sailed away and soon was seen no more. It 
was a victory dearly bought, for many English had 
died of disease and wounds. On February 3 Down- 
ton had been compelled to write in his diary : "It 
pleased God this day at night when I had least leisure 
to mourn to call to his mercy my only son " ; and not 
many months later a tropical fever set free the Admiral 
to follow his son.^ 

The death of Downton was at Bantam where the 
New Year's Gift had gone for spices. This was 
Pring's introduction to a region he was soon to know 
better, but his orders on this occasion required him 
to return to England. The success of the venture 
was great ; political, military and commercial ends 
had all been well served. Mughal dominions had 
been saved from Portuguese pilfering ; the sea power 
of England had been valiantly maintained, and the 
Company's profits were beyond the usual high 
average.^ 

iPurchas, I, pp. 506 et seq.; "Letters received by the E. I. Co." etc., II, pp. 296, 
302, 303; III, pp. 15, 22, 23, 26 (Downton to Sir Thomas Smythe, Feb. 28, 1614 (1615) ). 
He makes criticisms on his command, saying they had not known what to do. " I 
acknowledge your care in preparing ordnance, powder and shot, but no way like 
your choice of people to use them," pp. 44, 48 et seq. 55, 71, 170, 300. Low: " Indian 
Navy," I, pp. 20-23, quoting largely from Orme: "Oriental Fragments," pp. 346-56. 
Hunter: "Hist, of British India," I, pp. 323 et seq, Clowes: " Royal Navy," II, p. 35. 
For Jahangir's pleasure at the defeat of the Portuguese cf . " Waki' at-i Jahangiri " 
in Elliot : " Hist, of India," VI, p. 340. 

2 " Cal. State Papers E. I. ( 1513-1616 ) " Nos. 1011, 1022, 1055, 1091, 1124, 1127, 1130. 1187. 
" Letters received, etc.," Ill, pp. 95, 149, 170, 173 ( it had at first been the intention of 
the Company to detach the New Year's Gift and send her to Japan in 1615), 174. 
The voyage home from Bantam to England (Dec. 21, 1615 — July, 1616) maybe 
traced in the following despatches: pp. 180, 210, 230, 232, 257, 259, 261, 266, 268, 272, 
294, 295, 297, 300, 315, 317, 337, and " Cal. State Papers " as above. No. 1130. Bruce: 
" Annals," I, pp. 171-74. Details as to the movements of the Gift and her lading are 
also to be found in "Letters received, etc.," IV, pp. 25, 29, 30, 34, 66, 121, 278, 291 
et seq. Markham: "Voyages of Sir James Lancaster," p. 266. Cf. also pp. 296 
et seq. 

32 



V. 



That Pring had served with credit in the eyes of 
the Company may be judged by his appointment in 
1617 to the government of a new squadron which was 
to make the fifth voyage for the joint stock. Here he 
had the James Royal of a thousand tons as his flag- 
ship. Besides were two ships nearly as large and 
two others smaller. These five set sail from the 
Downs the first of March, 1617. The outward voyage 
was attended with some peril, as off the Arabian coast 
the James sprang a leak which was with difficulty 
stopped. While the flagship was thus disabled the 
other vessels were nevertheless able to capture a 
Portuguese ship from Mozambique laden with " ele- 
phants' teeth," as ivory was then called. Moreover, 
what was important, they took two English ships, 
interlopers in these waters, who had had in chase a 
native craft belonging to the Emperor's mother. It 
soon appeared that these two English vessels had 
been outfitted to prey on Spanish shipping. This 
had been at the orders of Lord Robert Rich, soon to 
be the Earl of Warwick. He had been importuned 
to this end by his friend. Count Scarnafissi, ambassa- 
dor in London of the Duke of Savoy who was at the 
time at war with the King of Spain. These ships 
were then privateers flying a neutral flag ; moreover, 
what was far worse — they were within the Company's 
monopoly. They had further imperiled the Com- 
pany's interests by their thoughtless greed in attack- 
ing a merchant vessel belonging to the imperial court. 

33 



They were, therefore, promptly confiscated by Pring's 
orders/ 

The consequences of this act, though for the most 
part beyond the scope of this paper, may serve to 
illustrate the more or less close connection which at 
this time existed between the East India and Virginia 
Companies. In London was Sir Thomas Smythe, 
merchant and man of affairs. Governor of the East 
India Company and likewise Treasurer of the Vir- 
ginia Company. Hi^ yo'iiiig son had recently, against 
the will of the father, been married to Lady Isabella 
Eich, a sister to Lord Robert Rich, the owner of at 
least one of the captured vessels. Bad feeling 
between the two families had thus been bred. The 
news from India was not calculated to make either 
Sir Thomas Smythe or Lord Robert Rich more 
friendly ; for when Lord Robert made urgent com- 
plaint to the Governor of the Company concerning 
the capture of his ship by Captain Pring, the 

* "Letters received by the E. I. Co.," Ill, p. 326. Pring's journal of the voyage is 
In Purchas: op. cit., I, pp. 618, 631 et seq. Cf. also his letter to the Company from 
Swally Roads, Nov. 12, 1617, in " Letters received, etc.," VI, pp. 171-8, in which one 
of the interloping ships is stated to have been owned by Philip Barnadi, an Italian 
merchant of London. Pring comments on the capture ( p. 174 ) : "I praise God with 
all my heart that we lighted so on them, for if they had taken the junk and known 
to be English ( which could not long have been concealed ) all your goods in thii 
country could not have made satisfaction according to their desire ( and that is 
commonly their law in these cases )." In a letter from Kerridge and Rastel, factors 
at Surat, to the Company, ( Ibid, pp. 158, 164 ) much the same is said, though one 
ship is said to have been owned in the name of the Duke of Florence. Still another 
account is by Edward Monnox, who came out as factor in Pring's fleet, pp. 269 
et seq. For further references to Pring's voyage and his activities off Surat see pp. 
95, 107, 112, 114, 120, 122, 129, 137, 146, 149, 151, 156, 163, 166, 177, 215, 218, 278. The Voyage 
and the above events may also be followed, though in less satisfactory fashion, in 
the "Cal. of State Papers, Col., E. I. n617-1621 )." Here care should be taken not to 
confuse the operations of the James under Capt. Childs and the James Royal under 
Capt. Pring; the index is not always clear. The references to Pring in the index 
are correct; of these the more important are to be found in Nos. 154, 162, 186, 187, 
193, 302. Sir Thomas Roe wrote of the capture of the English rovers, " if shee ( tho 
Queen Mother's ship ) had bin taken, we had all bin in trouble." Foster: " Roe," 
II, pp. 420 n., 421, 480. 

84 



Company, determined both by its own interests and by 
the wishes of the Governor, supported Pring's action 
against those two marauding rovers and refused to 
grant the damages demanded. So hot did the action 
become that Lord Robert brought the case before the 
Privy Council and to the King's attention ; and in 
the end the whole matter was referred to arbitration. 
In the meantime, however, by way of personal revenge, 
Lord Robert, who was himself a man of influence in 
colonial affairs, set to work to oust Sir Thomas Smythe 
and his friends from control of the funds of the Vir- 
ginia Company. At the next meeting of that Com- 
pany in April, 1619, the party of Lord Robert all gave 
their votes to an independent and victorious candi- 
date, one Sir Edwin Sandys, that he might be Treas- 
urer of the Virginia Company in succession to the 
candidate set up by Sir Thomas Smythe, who himself 
had not wished to continue in office. The result, 
however, was much to the astonishment of all. In 
this fashion was Sir Edwin Sandys given office in 
the management of the colony of Virginia, to what 
results for the benefit of the colony and for the 
directing of its future history I leave the readers of 
Virginia records to recall.^ 



> " Cal. State Papers, Col. E. I. (1617-21 ) " Nos. 193, 230, 267, 302, 467, 532, 657, 567, 591, 
694, 666, 772, 774, 778, 781, 783, 801, 810, 823, 825, 829, and many others to be found noted 
in the index. Cf . also pp. LXXVI-LXXX. 

"Historical MSS. Commission, Fourth Report, Lords' Papers," p. 19. Gardiner: 
"Hist, of England," III, p. 216. "Cal. State Papers, Dom. ( 1619 1623)," Nos. 2, 67. 
"Cal. State Papers, Col. (1574-1660)" Nos. 44, 51. Brown: "Genesis of United 
States," II, pp. 980, 1014. "Diet. Nat. Biog.," see "Rich" and "Smythe." Cf. 
" Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.," 4th Series, III, pp. 36, 37. The full bearing of the election 
is not recognized in Neill: "Virginia Company," pp. 143-45, 151. Foster: " Roe," II, 
pp. 240 n., and " Letters received by E. I. Co.," VI, p. XXIX, contain brief sum- 
maries with some of the above references. 

35 



On turning once more to Pring's career in tlie east, 
one of the most significant episodes in his biography 
is to he found in his relationship to Sir Thomas Roe, 
British ambassador to the Mughal Emperor, Jahangir. 
Roe was the first British diplomat sent east by the Cape 
and won for himself great fame by able conduct in a 
post of extreme difficulty. He gave Pring, an old 
friend, warm welcome when the James Royal arrived 
off the Indian coast early in the autumn of 1617 ; and 
his testimony to Pring's worth is full the equal of that 
given by Sir Ferdinando Gorges. I quote from Roe's 
letter of welcome to Pring, written October 5, 1617 : 
" Honest Man, God, that Knowes my hart, wittnesse 
you are the welcomest man to this Country that Could 
here arriue to assist my many troubles."^ Four 
months later to the Company in London he also wrote 
that Pring " now by his great Modesty and discretion 
hath both reformed many abuses, gayned you much 
good will, himselfe all mens loue and his owne Cred- 
itt. An honester man I suppose you cannot send, 
and that his Actions will approue : one that Studies 
your endes, is ready to ioyne with any, without insist- 
ing vpon disputes and tearmes."^ To another he 
wrote : " Captain Pring is every way sufficient and 
discreet."^ The quotations might be further con- 
tinued. 

Together Roe and Pring concerted measures for 
the final ousting of the Portuguese, for the extension 

» Foster: " Roe," II, p. 421. 

« Ibid, II, p. 468. 

' " Letters received, etc.," VI, p. 120. Cf . also pp. 136, and 151 et &eq. 

36 



of Britisli influence and trade in the Red Sea, the Per- 
sian Gulf and Persia, and for keener competition with 
the Dutch. Against the latter Roe frankly advocated 
a piratical policy in order thereby to give the English 
a monopoly in Asiatic waters.^ Yet in the midst of 
this planning we find at times the burden of a lonely 
responsibility weighing heavily on a mind perplexed 
by oriental duplicity. Thus passages such as the 
following to Pring are frequent in Roe's letters : 
** Wee Hue in a Barbarous unfaythfull place ; you in 
the sea with more securitie and Constancy e. Pray 
for Vs, that God wilbe Pleased to keepe vs, that 
among heathens wee may bee as light in darknes ; 
at least that wee shame not the light. "^ And again 
in a farewell letter : "I am reddy to breake for want 

of an honnest free conference God in 

heaven blesse you and send me once among men, for 
these are monsters."^ It was the weight of an impe- 
rial burden still unrealized that lay heavy on unaccus- 
tomed shoulders. 

On his departure from India Pring sailed for 
Jacatra on the island of Java and off Bantam joined 
his fleet to that of Sir Thomas Dale, also of Virginia 
fame. During the autumn Pring endeavored to secure 
a favorable treaty from the king of Jacatra, but was 
not successful till early in January when the Dutch 
were no longer such powerful rivals.'* This was due 

» " Letters received, etc.," VI, pp. 108, 112, 129, 151, et seq. " Cal. State Papers, Col. 
E. I. ( 1617-21 ) " Nos. 155, 156, 298. Foster: " Roe," I, pp. 128, 421, 429, 434; II, pp. 407 
et seq., 418, 466, et seq., 470. 

2 Foster : " Roe," II, p. 490. Roe oflfers to assist Pring with the Company. 

3 Ibid, II, p. 502. 

* " Cal. State Papers, Col. E. I. ( 1617-21 ) " Nos. 245, 423, 424, 444, 447, 477. 

37 



to tlie attack made on tlie Dutch by botli fleets under 
Dale on December 23, 1618, in Jacatra Bay. It was 
a desperate engagement and much, disputed, both 
sides claiming the victory ; the Dutch, however, 
sailed away. Pring wrote home that the fight " con- 
tinued about three hours, in which time the English 
shot above 1200 great shot from six ships. Chased 
the Dutch the next day through the Bay of Jacatra 
insight of their castle." Dale wrote home that it had 
been " ' a cruel bloody fight ' ; 3000 great shot fired ; 
many men maimed and slain on both sides, but the 
Dutch had four times as many slain and maimed as 
the English ; three of the Dutch ships reported to be 
sunk ; knows not how true it is, but is sure they were 
soundly banged."^ 

This fight was one of a long series of bloody strug- 
gles between Dutch and English for the spice trade 
of Malaya. After cruising from January to March 
and suffering severely by disease and damage of the 
shipping, both fleets met again at Masulipatam. There 
reports reached them that the Dutch were once more 
at work and threatening to drive the English out of 
the islands; and there on August 9 Sir Thomas Dale 
died, leaving Pring in supreme command. A short time 
afterwards the factor at Masulipatam wrote home that 
he could not " suJG&ciently commend the present com- 
mander. Captain Pring." The condition of the fleet, 

1 " Cal. State Papers, Col. ( 1617-21 ) " Nos. 601, 609 ( Dale's Account ), 643 ( Prlng'a 
account ), 742. Professor Laughton in " Diet. Nat. Biog.," Art. " Pring," says Pring 
did not take part in this fight: but the language in Nos. 508 and 524 would seem to 
make it probable that, though the James Royal was detained at Bantam by a leak, 
Pring, possibly on board the Unicorn, was present at the engagement. As late aa 
February 1619 Pring had not taJien the James to sea and was cruising in the Unicorn 
off the Straits of Sunda looking for the Dutch. 

38 



however, was such as to persuade Pring to avoid the 
Dutch and during the autumn of 1619 and early win- 
ter of 1620 English interests suffered much loss. 
Such being the case, the news of a peace made at 
home with the Dutch in the year previous was wel- 
comed by Pring in March, 1620. Indeed he had 
already informed the Company that he favored a 
union of the English and Dutch to overthrow both 
Spain and Portugal, thereby securing a joint monop- 
oly of tropical trade. The allies could then buy all 
commodities in the East and sell them in Europe at 
such prices as they pleased. Whereby, as he wrote, 
they might expect " both wealth and honor, the two 
main pillars of earthly happiness.'" 

At news of the peace Pring, now recognized as 
General in command of the East Indian fleets, entered 
into friendly relations with the Dutch commander, 
General Coen ; "and there [perhaps Bantam] they 
feasted each other that day [March 13 ( 23) 1620] ; 
then all the prisoners of each side were set at liberty, 
and taken again aboard their own ships. "^ Thus 
assured of the safety of English interests in India 
and the spice islands, Pring then ventured further 
east and made the voyage to Japan. On his arrival 
at Firando he was made welcome by the Company's 
agent, Richard Cocks. The news of peace with the 
Dutch was joyfully received ; and Pring, looking to 

I " Cal. State Papers, Col. E. I. ( 1617-21 )" Nos. 538, 562, 602, 607, 643,670 ( cruising for 
the Dutcli ) ; 747, 759, 775, 782, 787 ( at Alasulipatam ) ; 802, 844, 948 ( the Dutch ). Cf. 
"Diet. Nat. Biog., locus" Pring. Clowes: op. cit., II, p. 39; several inaccuracies 
are to be noted here. 

» Op. cit., No. 934. 

39 



the future, was led to believe that if the China trade 
could be drawn to Japan it " would prove the best 
factory in the world. "^ William Adams, the first 
Anglo-Japanese merchant, had died in the May prior 
to the arrival of the James Royal, which was on July 
23, 1620 ; but with Cocks, who had been in the coun- 
try now ten years, a five months' stay was made in 
which the ships were repaired.^ Indeed, Pring and 
Cocks appear to have enjoyed the visit ; for in his diary 
Cocks speaks of several dinners in company with the 
captains of the squadron. On the occasion of the 
sailing of the James Royal, Cocks noted, December 
12, 1620 : " We supped all at Duch howse, both Capt. 
IVing, Capt. Adames, and all the masters of the 
shipps and merchants ashore, where we had great e 
cheare and no skarsety of wyne, with many guns 
shott affe for healthes all the night long."^ Finally, 
with rich cargo on board, Pring started on the long 
voyage home, being at last signaled in the Downs on 
the morning of September 19, 1621, nine months and 
two days out from Cochie Road off Firando.'* 

The temper of the Company had been sorely tried 
since Pring had started for Japan ; the Dutch had 
not kept the treaty ; and events were preparing for 

1 Op. cit., No. 1133. 

2 Op. cit. No3. 844, 878, 883 ( Pring declined to command a fleet bound for Manila ), 
910, 929, 930. Cf. for the voyage of the James Royal Purchas: op. cit., I, pp. 629 et 
seq.; Rundall: "Memorials of Japan," p. 87. Cocks to the E. I. Co. Dec. 131620: 
" The coppie of his [ Adams ] will with another of his inventory ( or account of bis 
estate ) I send to his wife and daughter, per Captain Martin Pring, their good 
friend, well knowne to them long tyme past." Cf. Cocks: "Diary," II, p. 321. 

3 Cocks: "Diary," II, p. 116. 

« Cocks: " Diary," II, pp. 54, 112-116, 318, 322. " Cal. State Papers Col. E. I. ( 1617- 
21 ) " No. 1100. 

40 



that terrible massacre of the English at Amboyna in 
1623, which was to drive them from the spice islands 
for so many years. Signs of all this are to be seen 
in the fault the Company now found with Pring for 
not having opposed the Dutch more vigorously after 
the death of Sir Thomas Dale, for having been 
friendly with the Dutch after the signature of peace, 
for having taken the James Royal to Japan for full 
repairs when the interests of the Company were still 
in jeopardy, and above all for having indulged in 
private trade to his own profit. This last charge 
might well be true, for it was a common thing among 
the captains and factors in the service, though much 
disliked by the Company. Matters indeed came to 
such a pass that Pring was near brought before the 
Privy Council to answer charges brought against him 
by the Company's Court. Eventually, however, Pring 
was able to clear himself from several charges and 
the matter was dropped. But he had to wait a good 
part of a year for his wages, and when he finally quit 
the service in August, 1623, the customary gratifica- 
tion of money from the Company was withheld. The 
general opinion seems to have been that Pring was a 
better navigator than merchant. Yet in no instance 
did he fail to secure the approval of men who watched 
him in the active performance of his duty. The ideal 
commander in the eyes of the Company must be 
" partly a navigator, partly a merchant, with knowl- 
edge to lade a ship, and partly a man of fashion and 
good respect." While Pring may not have risen to 
that condition, he was by all other accounts a man of 

41 



service to the corporation. His misfortune was to 
have returned home an avowed supporter of a Dutch 
alliance, now unpopular, and too honest and indepen- 
dent to deny that he had indulged, as had others, in 
private trade. ^ 



VI. 



After nearly a decade of adventuring to the east 
the closing years of Pring's life show significantly a 
return to western interests. Indeed it is possible 
that after his return in 1623 to his home port of Bris- 
tol, he once more assumed a voyage to Virginia. He 
had been elected a member of the Company of Mer- 
chant Adventurers of Bristol, the organization that 
had supported his maiden venture in 1603 ; and 
there is one bit of evidence which would point to 
his having sailed to America again in 1626. For in 
that year one Miles Prickett, a baker of Holy Cross 
Parish, outside of Canterbury, made his will and 
declared therein that, " Whereas there is or will be 
certain money due me in consideration of my adven- 
turing into Virginia under the Worshipful Captain 
Pryn [ Pring ], his charge, which goods, if they shall 
prosper well in the said voyage I freely dispose of 
the benefit that shall be due to me unto my brother."^ 

i"Cal. of State Papers, E. I. (1513-1616)," No. 700 (the ideal captain). Ibid 
( 1617-22 ),N08. 979, 982. 1110, 1130, 1133, 1134, 1136, 1138, 1145, 1161, 1171; Ibid (1622- 
24 ), N08. 98, 103, 332 ; p. 92. Cf . " Pring " in " Diet. Nat. Biog." 

» New Eng. Hist. Gen. Reg.," XL, p. 62. Brown: " Genesis of the U. S.," II, p. 974. 

42 



But whatever hesitancy may be felt in asserting a 
third American voyage by Captain Pring, the 
evidence of his continuing interest in American affairs 
is derived from other and less doubtful sources and 
may perhaps add to the probability of the third 
voyage. It appears that in 1621, while on the home- 
ward voyage from Japan in the James Royal, the 
ship's chaplain, the Reverend Patrick Copland, had 
gathered from the " gentlemen and mariners " on 
board the sum of £70 8s 6d towards the building of 
a free school in Virginia. The largest single amount 
subscribed was £6 13s 4d by Pring himself and " so 
decreasing to one shilling." This Mr. Copland had 
attended Sir Thomas Dale at his death-bed in Masuli- 
patam, August, 1619, and had on that occasion prob- 
ably heard much of Virginia's needs from the lips of 
her former governor, then dying in the eastern trop- 
ics. At least talk of America and inquiries concern- 
ing Virginia were frequent on Dale's lips. The 
possibility that this plan and this subscription were 
in part the results of these talks is calculated to give 
pause when we consider the character and labors of 
Dale in Virginia. Whether the suggestion came from 
him or no, it found hearty furtherance from Pring. 
Copland also found on landing in England others 
ready to take up the matter ; by several anonymous 
gifts the fund was by 1622 increased to £192 Is lOd ; 
and the total was given to the Earl of Southampton 
for what the Council of the Virginia Company was 
pleased to call the East India School. A thousand 
acres of land also were voted by the Company to the 

43 



scliool, which, was to be situate at Charles City.^ 
The Virginia Company thus declared itself to be heart- 
ily in sympathy with the proposal and voted that 
" ciuility of life and humane learninge seemed to carry 
with it the greatest weight and highest consequence 
unto the plantacons as that whereof both Church and 
Common wealth take their originall foundacion and 
happie estate."^ 

Carpenters were sent out to build the school and 
two teachers were successively engaged to conduct its 
affairs. Difficulties supervened, however, and no 
further record of the establishment is to be found. 
But the gratitude of the Company found special 
expression in the Quarter Court of July 3, 1622, when 
it was thought fit to make Captain Pring a freeman 
of the Company and to give him two shares of land 
in Virginia. This, as the record reads : "in reguard 
of the large contribucon w^^ the gentlemen and mari- 
ners of that shippe [ James Royal ] had given toward 
good works in Virginia whereof he was an especiall 
furtherer."^ Thus it was that Pring became both 
a landowner and a supporter of an infant educational 
system in America. He might, therefore, have gone to 
Virginia in 1626 in the interest of both his personal 

1 Brown: op. cit., II, pp. 972-3. On Copland's career to 1623 see " Cal. State Papers 
Col. E. I. ( 1617-21 ■)," Nos. 270, 289, 302, 054, 979, 1125. In 1617 the sailors had raised on 
the James Royal a sum of money for a gallery in St. John's Chapel, Wapping, of 
which Master Rowland Coitmore, formerly of the James, became warden in 1622. 
Brown: op. cit., II, p. 856. In 1624 the E. I. Company, profiting by such example, 
voted in the future to take up subscriptions on their vessels for "those hurt or 

maimed in the Company's service which they think will be more proper, 

than for erecting a school in Virginia." " Cal. State Papers Col. E. I. ( 1622-24 ) " No. 
710. Neill : " Virginia Company," pp. 251 et seq. 

» Neill : op. cit., p. 264. 

3 Neill: op. cit., p. 314. 

44 



gift and his real estate. However that may be, 
he must, nevertheless, have died soon after his return 
to England, for Prickett's will was dated November 
30, 1626, and by the record on the monument in St. 
Stephen's Church at Bristol, Pring died in that year 
at the age of forty-six. This monument, restored in 
1733, is inscribed : " To the Pious Memorie of Martin 
Pringe, Merchaunt, Sometyme Generall to the East 
Indies, and one of ye Fraternity of the Trinity House." 
It bears the arms of the Merchant Adventurers of 
Bristol, at whose expense it was probably erected ; 
and at each of the four corners are carved ships 
representing those in which Pring had sailed as 
commander.^ 

I hope that as you have patiently followed my 
attempt to tell you of the life of Martin Pring you 
will have seen how historic is his biography, how 
typical is his career of the epochal changes which 
took place in England during his lifetime, and with 
what close and at times curious connection are bound 
the efforts of those who were enlarging the power and 
interests of the English nation both in America and 
in Asia.^ The place and time of his birth as well as 
other circumstances recall the close of the Elizabethan 

» A description of the monument is in "Mag. Am. Hist.," IX, p. 211. Cf. Brown: 
op. cit. II, p. 974. "Diet. Nat. Biog." locus Pring. Pring: "Captaine Martin 
Pringe," contains a plate of the monument with a transcription of the inscription 
and epitaph. For further information on the interesting career and personality of 
the Reverend Patricli Copland ( or Copeland ) cf . Neill : " Virginia Company," pp. 
251 n., 374, 377, and " Virginia Carolorum," pp. 31, 19,5-197. See also Clews: " Educa- 
tional Legislation and Administration of the Colonial Governments," pp. 351-354. 

2 Aside from the interest which naturally associated such men as John Davis, Sir 
Tliomas Smythe, George Waymouth, and many others in the expansion of England 
in two hemispheres, it is worthy of note that William BaflSn sailed as master's mate 
in the Ann Royal of Pring's fleet in 1617. Cf . Markham : " Sir James Lancaster," p. 
267. 

46 



age, that period when men with " happy heart and a 
bias toward theism " followed " asceticism, duty and 
magnanimity," that time when statesmen wrote son- 
nets and sailors enacted plays, when a Grenville had 
a Raleigh for his historian, when 

" Drake went down to the Horn 

And England was crowned thereby — " 

in short that time when Englishmen made discovery 
of mankind, of new lands and seas and of themselves. 
Moreover, Pring's character and work, as well as 
the esteem in which he was held by men such as 
Richard Hakluyt, the Lord Chief Justice and Sir Fer- 
dinando Gorges, in the Occident, and by Sir Thomas 
Roe in the Orient, entitle him on the personal side 
still further to our consideration. He was an English 
seaman, pointing the way to England's glory and 
power, a forerunner of Anglo-Saxon empire in two 
hemispheres, an explorer, a fighter, a trader, a diplo- 
mat, and a patron of education, yet withal a man of 
piety, perseverance and modesty. In the quaint 
language of his epitaph : 

" His painful, skillfull travayles reacht as farre 

As from the Artick to th' Antartick starre 

Hee made himself A Shippe, Religion 

His only compass and the truth alone 

His guiding Cynosure ; Faith was his sailes, 

His Anchour hope, a hope that never failes 

His freight was charitie and his returne 

A fruitfull practise. In this fatal urne 

His shipp's fayre Bulck is lodg'd but ye ritch ladinge 

Is housed in heaven, a haven never fadinge 

Hie terris multum jactatus et undis.'^ 
46 



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SO 



A PIONEER VOYAGER OF THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY: SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT 

BY REV. HENRY O. THAYER 

Bead before the Maine Historical Society, November 19, 1903 

Disaster and frustrated enterprise are the black 
headlines in the early history of America. European 
adventurers were repeatedly driven back or gained 
possession at great cost of treasure and life. A glance 
at events in the sixteenth century is a pertinent intro- 
duction to the purpose of to-day. Its annals include 
a startling record of failure in attempted entrance to 
the western world. 

The genius to discover an unknown continent did 
not give Columbus power over adverse conditions, 
but two colonies begun utterly failed and another 
scarcely survived. Ojeda on the Carribean coast, 
Las Casas at Cumana, Ponce de Leon and next Nar- 
vaez and a score of years later the Dominicans, each 
seeking possession of Florida, are names recalling 
speedy collapse. Cartier and Roberval, scheming for 
France on the St. Lawrence, had hopeful beginnings 
crushed. Like failure attended Colingny's Huguenot 
colony at Rio Janiero and Ribault's at Port Royal. 
The names of Laudonniere, Menendez, De Gourges, 
stand on the pages of history testifying how France 
and Spain murderously destroyed each other's work. 
De la Roche's colony of convicts placed on Sable 

51 



Island, and an English attempt on Newfoundland, 
quickly abortive, only tell of wretchedness and canni- 
balism. Raleigh's lost colony of Roanoke is ever a 
pitiable mystery. 

Dreams of empire in the west, attempts to seize the 
prize, all fntile, mark the sixteenth century, and 
nearly five and one-half score years had gone by from 
the time when Cabot by discovery on the northern 
coast gave England valid claim to North America, 
before permanent occupation was achieved. 

One of these regretted failures is treated in this 
paper, the disastrous expedition of Sir Humphrey 
Gilbert. 

In a Devonshire family of distinction he was born, 
1539, son of Sir Otho Gilbert, of Compton Castle. 
His mother was a Champernown. A younger half- 
brother was the distinguished Walter Raleigh. 

Student at Eton and Oxford ; in youth a servitor 
of the great Elizabeth and enjoying her favor to 
the end ; of scholarly tastes but inclined to active 
life ; in military service in Normandy in 1563, prob- 
ably a lieutenant ; in '66 in Ireland, a captain under 
Sir Henry Sidney, and by him knighted in '70 ; 
sent back in '67 to settle an English colony which 
failed ; in '69 governor of Munster, rigorous and 
feared, avowing his method, " neither parley or peace 
with any rebel " ; in Parliament in '71, also surveyor- 
general of forces and munitions of war ; next year 
sent to the Netherlands against the Spanish tyrants ; 
for several years following in retirement ; now evolv- 
ing a plan for a literary institution in London .... 

52 



called an academy ; in '66 petitioning the qneen for 
privilege to discover the Northwest Passage, with 
glowing views of expected results ; in the following 
year urging anew his proposal ; author of a tractate 
on the subject, now extant, " Discourse of a Discovery 
for a new Passage to Cataia," a sample of scientific 
ideas of that century ; in '77 putting forth a scheme 
showing how to weaken the power of Spain — these 
are brief hints at his varied activities and responsi- 
bilities up to his thirty-eighth year, when he devoted 
himself to plans for colonization. 

Evident is his interest in public affairs, but more a 
dominant trend toward geographical research and 
participation in projects and movements relating to 
America. 

In 1577, by Elizabeth's favor, Frobisher sailed on 
a luckless voyage, and countenancing similar aims, 
next Gilbert's friendly queen in variant mood bent 
ear to his long-disregarded requests, and by her royal 
patent of 1578 permitted him to discover and possess 
heathen lands not possessed by any Christian prince. 
Large privileges enhanced the grant. With enthu- 
siasm and energy he made preparation, cast his prop- 
erty into the venture, and aided by his brother 
Raleigh, assembled eleven ships and four hundred 
men off the coast of Devon. Dissensions, rivalry of 
captains, weakened authority, riotous conduct, dis- 
persed part of the fleet, so that the second attempt at 
sailing in November showed but seven ships and two 
hundred and fifty men. The expedition, obscure in 
movement, achieved nothing intended in the line of 

53 



discovery, and returned in a few months with loss of 
one ship and a valiant captain in a clash with Spanish 
ships. 

Undaunted, Gilbert held to his purpose, persistent 
under enforced delay. Funds and co-operation were 
not easily obtained. He had already in his fruitless 
venture largely sunk his fortune, his credit, even 
influence at court. Urging payment for his ships 
chartered by the government, he confesses how har- 
assed he had been by debts and executions, even 
forced " to sell his wife's clothes off her back " to 
meet pressing demands. Yet funds were raised from 
friends and by assigning rights in lands yet to be 
seen and possessed. Years had gone by in the vex- 
ing endeavor till but one remained before his patent 
would expire, but with desperate earnestness he over- 
came the adverse conditions and had five ships and 
two hundred and sixty men ready. The queen gave 
him a token of favor, — a silver anchor, — and wished 
him equal safety and success as if she were in his 
ship. Thus equipped. Sir Humphrey put forth to 
sea on June 11, 1583, from Causand Bay near 
Plymouth. 

The vessels were : 

1. The Delight, alias the George, the admiral, or 
flagship, one hundred and twenty tons ; William 
Winter, captain and part owner, Richard Clarke, 
master. 

2. The bark Raleigh, provided by Sir Walter 
Raleigh, two hundred tons ; Butler, captain, Robert 
Davis, of Bristol, master. 

54 



3. The Golden Hind, forty tons ; Edward Hayes, 
captain and owner, William Cox, master, John Paul, 
mate. 

4. The Swallow, forty tons ; Maurice Brown, master. 

5. The Squirrel, ten tons ; William Andrews, cap- 
tain, Cade, master. Sir Humphrey was doubtless 

owner. 

Men of various occupations required in a colony 
were a part of the force, also a historian and mineral- 
ogist and refiner. 

A history of the enterprise and voyage was written 
by Captain Hayes, also a brief account by Master 
Clarke, and Sir George Peckham, heartily seconding 
Gilbert in the venture, sketched events, adding con- 
siderations on the benefits of colonies.^ 

It has been written that Gosnold, in 1602, was the 
first navigator to sail directly west to America, avoid- 
ing the circuit by the West Indies. But this expedi- 
tion took the direct course and was probably not the 
first. The sailing orders put forth by Sir Humphrey 
and pilots directed that after running down to lati- 
tude forty-six degrees they should endeavor to keep 
that parallel directly to Newfoundland, and if sepa- 
rated by storms to rendezvous in a harbor near Cape 
Race. 

Sir Humphrey's information had formed his pref- 
erences for colonies in the southern parts, and he 
proposed to begin examination at the southward and 
sail up the coast. One fact changed his plan. The 
departure from Plymouth was delayed beyond 

1 " Hakluyt's Voyages," Ed. 1600, Vol. 3, pp. 143-160. 

55 



intention, so that supplies in tlie ships were in a 
measure consumed, therefore it was deemed wise to 
go direct to St. John's and there re-supply the ships 
from surplus stores of vessels about to return and 
thence sail southward. Two days out, the largest 
vessel, the Raleigh, reported sickness on board, then 
soon put about, and though it was afterwards told 
there was contagious disease, suspicions arose of 
other causes for the return to England. 

Storms and adverse winds made the voyage hard 
and long, and not till Saturday, August 3, did all the 
vessels reach St. John's. Only Gilbert's high com- 
mission gained him peaceable entrance to the harbor 
of St. John's, where were thirty-six ships, English, 
Spanish, Breton, French. On Monday, 5th, on shore 
in audience of seamen and traders of the several 
nations, he declared his authority, and took formal 
possession by usual ceremonies for Elizabeth and the 
crown of England of the territory of two hundred 
leagues. Then he re-supplied his fleet with all nec- 
essaries and abundant food and luxuries, levying on 
the captains and agents according to his wants. 
Grave difficulties, however, arose : — much sickness, 
many deaths, desertions, insubordination, attempt of 
lawless fellows to abscond with one ship, so that his 
force was much weakened. Gilbert decided to dis- 
miss one craft, the Swallow, which should take the 
sick and those proved unsuitable back to England. 
Captain Brown of the Swallow was transferred to the 
flagship, whose captain returned, as also Andrews of 
the Squirrel. 

56 



With this diminished fleet, three vessels, Delight, 
Golden Hind, Squirrel, one hundred and twenty, 
forty, ten tons respectively, Sir Humphrey began his 
real work, examination of the coast to locate the site 
for his colony and others yet to come. The "General," 
as Gilbert is styled in the narrative, left his flagship 
and sailed on the little Squirrel, whose light draft 
allowed it to enter bays and rivers and furnish him 
chance for close personal inspection. 

Sailing out of St. John's they reached Cape Race 
the next day, August 21, where becalmed they caught 
abundance of fish, a supply for many days, and on 
Thursday, 22d, took their departure from the cape. 
But whither ? The narrator of this part of the voy- 
age writes : " We directed our course to the isle of 
Sablon or isle of Sand which Sir Humphrey would 
willingly have seen," He had been informed that 
cattle and swine in large numbers were there multi- 
plied from a few left there by Portuguese ships thirty 
years before, which might be a valuable source of 
supply for the colonists. 

Captain Hayes writes : — " We shaped our course 
to the island of Sablon if conveniently it might so fall 
out, also directly to Cape Breton." There may be 
two interpretations, — Cape Breton the objective point, 
visiting Sable by the way if convenient ; or, Sable 
Island directly and Cape Breton afterwards. We 
know that after sailing they were seven days at sea and 
on the eighth the admiral ran aground and was lost. 

Certain relations of tliis disappointing voyage to 
our Maine history make inquiry pertinent regarding 

57 



the place of the wreck, and likewise that of Gilbert's 
death. In various histories and biographical sketches 
the wreck has been assigned to the coast of Maine, 
and of Massachusetts, and to Cape Breton and to 
Sable Island, or not located.^ 

A paragraph in Bancroft's " History of the United 
States " read some twenty years ago excited my curi- 
osity and led me to the study of this voyage in the 
original sources.^ Our historian wrote that after 
leaving St. John's the ships sailed for the coast of 
the United States, " but had not proceeded towards 
the south beyond the latitude of Wiscasset when the 
largest ship was wrecked." Why did he write Wis- 
casset ? The casual reader's immediate presumption 
will connect the disaster with the central coast of 
Maine. Thus he was interpreted ^ by the author of 
the "Ancient Dominions," and the opinion may have 
been held by others, and seems to have been 
reflected in General Chamberlain's inspiring Centen- 
nial address on " Maine, Her Place in History," as 
sketching Gilbert's final disaster,^ he wrote cautiously 
as if distrustful of his authorities, " as some say, not 
far off Monhegan." Mr. Bancroft's statement, if not 
misleading, is inadequate, for the latitude of Wiscas- 
set is also that of the Isle Haute, of Liverpool, N. S., 
nearly, and even of the Bay of Biscay. Evidently 
seeking a more graphic sentence, he employed a 
local name, — Wiscasset being precisely in latitude 



1 See note at the end. 

2 Ed. 1876, Vol. 1, p. 75. 

3 Mem. Vol. of Popham Celebration, p. 135. 
*P. 21. 

58 



forty-four degrees north/ — to designate that latitude, 
the main fact to be stated, and thereby to most readers 
he did designate the Maine coast, whether near to or 
remote from Sheepscot Bay. Not alone latitude do 
we require but also longitude, for which evidence 
must be sought in the narrations which give meager 
accounts of events associated with the wreck. 

After departure from the Cape the ships sailed west 
along the coast, then soon saw no more land, and in a 
few days fell into unpropitious weather, making nav- 
igation difficult and doubtful. On Tuesday, 27th, 
soundings were taken in thirty-four fathoms, and by 
Captain Hayes' report they were in latitude forty-four 
degrees about. Master Clarke of the admiral tells his 
story of what happened. On Wednesday, Gilbert 
from the Squirrel hailed the Delight to consult 
regarding the course to which Clarke proposed south- 
westerly (W. S. W.) The General objected and said 
northwesterly ( W. N. W.) Clarke told him Sable 
Island was in that direction, fifteen leagues off, and 
they would be on it before morning. The General 
declared him in error and commanded him with all 
authority to take that course. 

We notice that Clarke writing this statement after- 
wards in England was making defense for the loss of 
his vessel. He had no papers, only memory, and did 
not hesitate to cast the blame on Gilbert, and whether 
a man of truth or not, he was seeking to make out a 
good case for himself, and if no witness of the 

iBut the original narrative, — not the log, — does not allow forty-four degrees to 
be the place of wreck, but at a later stage of the stormy voyage. 

59 



conversation was alive, might be believed. Indeed the 
compiler, Hakluyt, gives in the margin, — " He untruly 
chargeth Sir Humphrey," which shows opinions 
adverse to his truthfulness, and Hayes of the other 
vessel declares Clarke was stubborn in holding the 
northerly course, claiming he could not make his ship 
work well otherwise. The Hind necessarily followed 
the admiral, though against the judgment of its pilot. 
Cox. Hayes' story is clear and candid and seems 
worthy of full credit. Wherever lay the blame, the 
disaster followed. 

The story by Clarke and the mention by Hayes that 
on Tuesday they were in about forty-four degrees, 
seem to be the only basis for the opinion that the 
wreck occurred at Sable Island, except it be assured 
their intention was to sail first to the island. But 
Cape Breton first is an inference from the title of the 
log by Cox : " Log kept from Cape Race to Cape 
Breton and the island of Sablon " to the place of the 
wreck. Sir George Peckham wrote that they went 
ashore at Placentia, then having wind fair and good 
" they proceeded on their course toward the firme of 
America,'' which seems full evidence of their purpose. 

Fortunate is it that the narrative by Captain Hayes 
furnishes clearer evidence. The main facts show 
slow and imcertain sailing after leaving land, with 
baffling winds and " hindered by the current," — tiU 
on the seventh day the wind came south and they ran 
before it ( W. N. W.) all night while it increased into 
a " vehement " gale with rain and mists such that 
they could not see a cable's length. In the morning 

60 



they found shoals, flats, sand with recurring deep 
water, and Master Cox dimly saw white cliffs, or per- 
haps breakers, and soon the admiral drawing fourteen 
feet struck. The other vessels at once put about and 
escaped the peril. In the wreck of the flagship nearly 
one hundred men were lost, but fourteen managed to 
get into the barge, which had been constructed at St. 
John's and was towing astern, and after five days of 
hunger and exposure, by which two died, reached the 
land and were taken to England. Clarke was one 
but the captain ( Brown ) manfully held his place and 
was involved in the ruin as the ship was broken to 
pieces. The lighter vessels beat about as near as 
they dared if they might rescue any survivors. 

Captain Hayes introduced into his narrative the 
entries in the log-books of his master and mate, in 
order to give, as he hoped, other seamen means to 
determine the place and avoid the danger. The two 
logs I have put imder the eye of experienced Kenne- 
bec shipmasters for expert opinion. Dead reckoning 
is not esteemed in large degree trustworthy, but one 
navigator believed far more confidence could be put 
in it in former times when seamen were experienced 
in its use than now when the chronometer is an 
every-day reliance. 

Inspection of these logs does not support the idea 
of a visit first to Sable. They sailed directly west by 
Trepassey, also as Sir George Peckham tells, went 
ashore to examine Placentia, then bore northwesterly, 
afterward southwesterly as if making for Cape 
Breton. The whole distance run southward in all 

61 



tlie courses — the actual southing — would not extend 
to the latitude of Sable if put into one direct course, 
but there were northerly courses also, and the differ- 
ence of northing and southing, or the largest actual 
change in latitude, is less than half the distance 
required to reach the latitude of Sable. The results 
of computation show substantial agreement in the two 
seamen's reckonings. The testimony of the logs is 
explicit that the wreck was not at that island, but 
points unmistakably to Cape Breton. 

It is obvious that dead reckoning, and when held 
eight days, can yield only approximate results. The 
figures given me show that Cox and Paul differ in lat- 
itude eleven miles and in longitude twenty-six miles, 
and one may be rather surprised that their variance 
is not greater. The log of Cox will make the place 
of the wreck latitude forty-five degrees, fifty-seven 
minutes, and longitude sixty degrees, seven minutes, 
which is in the vicinity of Louisburg ; and that of 
Paul gives latitude forty-six degrees, eight minutes, 
which looks toward the harbor of Sydney, while the 
longitude, sixty degrees, thirty-three minutes, lies far 
to the west. In a problem precluding accurate solu- 
tion it will be sufficient to presume upon some point 
of the southeasterly part of the island of Cape Breton, 
as from Gabarus Bay to Scatari Island or from Lou- 
isburg to Sydney. 

If Clarke really told Sir Humphrey that they were 
southeasterly of Sable he seems so far astray that we 
can hardly believe him sincere, yet if previously on 
the other ships it was the opinion that they were in 

62 



about forty-four degrees, it appears to be proof that 
these navigators had made large errors in their reck- 
onings. Such opinion is the more surprising since 
then they had the same log now furnished us, and its 
testimony should have shovpn that they had made no 
such southing as would carry them to forty-four 
degrees, the latitude of Sable. This difficulty is not 
easily removed, but certainly to one now the log- 
entries have superior and final claim to show the 
position of the ships. Evidently these seamen were 
deceived. Baffling winds, currents of whose trend 
and strength they knew nothing, bore them far from 
their presumed position. Now it is a new sad tale 
nearly every year, some treacherous, undiscerned cur- 
rent driving a noble ship toward Cape Sable or Cape 
Race, those " graveyards of ships." These seamen 
did not make the progress southward as they seemed 
to think. Their last day and night's run — twelve to 
twenty leagues — northwesterly was before a strong 
and then vehement south wind. It carried them 
unsuspecting to the vicinity of Cape Breton. 

It is a fair implication of Hayes' story that on the 
day after the disaster, while they waited for clearing 
weather, his company were bewildered as men lost, 
and he mentions that they judged the land was not 
far off, either the continent or some island, yet some 
thought they were in the Bay of St. Lawrence. Such 
views are incompatible with a presumption that they 
were near and south of Sable, as Clarke's tale would 
imply, but fully agree with an intention first to make 
Cape Breton and the belief that they had been driven 

63 



into the wide passage between it and Newfoundland. 
But again he implies the direction of their voyage as 
he states that " from Cape Race to Cape Breton is 
eighty-seven leagues in which navigation we spent 
eight days." The Sable Island opinion should be 
summarily dismissed. 

During the present study I chanced to learn that 
this problem had been considered in a paper pub- 
lished by the Royal Society of Canada in its volume 
for 1897.^ It seems to have been occasioned by an 
assertion of the Sable Island opinion in the previous 
volume. The writer rejects that view, and with for- 
cible arguments makes conclusions in behalf of Cape 
Breton. He sets aside the statement of Clarke, uses 
only the log of Master Cox, gives the full computa- 
tion of it and has result, latitude forty-five degrees, 
fifty-seven minutes, and longitude sixty degrees, 
twelve minutes. This points to the Bay of Louisburg 
and he thinks the wreck may have occurred on the 
north side of the bay. A doubt may arise if this 
wind-driven fleet could sail in, lose one vessel, then 
the two should tack and sail directly out though the 
entrance is but half a mile wide, and remain as near 
as they could to the scene of wreck and yet have no 
knowledge of the near land but by soundings. The 
writer regards the report of shoals and sand bars as 
agreeing with present conditions. Still one may think 
three centuries have changed the soundings in no 
slight degree. He also finds probable corroboration 
in the fact that some fifty years ago there was found 

»" Transactions," Series 2, Vol. 3, Sec. 2, pp. 113-129. 

64 



on tlie shore of tlie bay an old gun — a hooped cannon 
of ancient style — said to be that of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, which might well be a relic of Sir Humphrey's 
expedition. 

What changeful fortunes ! This man of honorable 
birth and station, commended and successful in mili- 
tary service and civil administration ; favored by the 
great queen and knighted in her service ; student of 
science and history, author and explorer ; aiming at 
achievement by colonization ; holding royal patent to 
possess foreign lands ; gathering a fleet of eleven 
ships for his purpose ; gratified if not satisfied at 
each new stage of success thus far ; hopeful to win 
further honor and emolument in the coming enter- 
prise. But here his star no more ascendant begins 
to sink. The voyage returns only losses. He faints 
not ; expends fortune and credit ; equips after dubious 
years five ships for a second venlv^^e ; one abandons 
him ; another is forced home ; with weakened force 
he begins his work ; soon another ship with supplies 
and men is broken in pieces on an angry shore ; two 
little craft alone remain, abject remnant compared 
with the Devon fleet formerly launched on his grand 
design ; but the man himself tossed on an uncertain 
sea in a puny thing like a fishing boat, carries still 
an undaunted heart ; and not in the least unhinged 
by loss and the compelled surrender, in bold self- 
confidence promises to himself and his men another 
endeavor and sure achievement, for thus hope buoys 
up the strong as the weak, while the distressing fact 
was concealed, — one more last quick stage in 

65 



fortune's wreck, his doom two weeks later to sink in 
riotous waves in mid-ocean. 

When the crews, shocked and terrified at the loss 
of their flagship, had gained composure in the ensu- 
ing day, they disclosed to their grieved but steadfast 
leader their wreck of courage, their sense that further 
endeavor was futile. Supplies and men had been 
devoured by the angry sea, so now weak and timid, 
they entreated Sir Himaphrey to give over explora- 
tion. He yielded and gave the word " Homewards," 
a bitter necessity to him if grateful to them. On 
Saturday, 31st, the return voyage began. 

Twice in the days following did Gilbert leave his 
cockle-shell craft and go on board of the Hind, once 
to see the surgeon for an injured foot. Urgently 
entreated by friends to remain and not trust himself 
to the smaller vessel, he refused, declaring " I will 
not forsake my little company with whom I have 
passed so many storms and perils," a dictate of a 
generous spirit, rather than true manly prudence. 
Captain Hayes says that " he would not bend to rea- 
son," and also states that the Squirrel was overladen, 
by her supplies and chiefly by her guns and material 
to put her in fighting trim, which does not accredit 
the general with wise seamanship ; yet how easy for 
one to think what has been will be, and so Gilbert 
could be confident that his vessel, after years of ser- 
vice at sea, could endure other storms and having just 
crossed the ocean could make sure a return. It seems 
to have been his own vessel and he undoubtedly had 
special regard for it, and so casting off fear or 

66 



prudence which his friends would infuse he went back 
to his own. They had made some three hundred 
leagues of the voyage. Later there broke upon them 
a severe storm in which they battled with such " out- 
ragious seas " as few of their seamen had ever 
encountered. They had reached the longitude of the 
Azores but were far northward. The men of the 
larger vessel watched the Squirrel in imminent peril 
with anxiety, and could see the undismayed General 
sitting in the stern with his book, who was able once 
to hail them cheerily, " as near heaven by sea as by 
land." The gale continued into the night of Septem- 
ber 9, and in the midnight hours, while the intrepid 
Sir Humphrey held his little bark in the lead, to the 
lookout of the Golden Hind its " light suddenly went 
out," and the searching eyes of watchful seamen 
could find it no more, though unwilling to accept the 
manifest truth that one last high whelming wave had 
borne the Squirrel down in terrible plunge, making 
there in mid-ocean the end of the man and his 
schemes, and his unmarked burial place, who, as 
Hakluyt wrote, " is deserving honorable remembrance 
for his good mind and expense of life in so virtuous 
an enterprise." 

Pitiable was the fate of this English knight and 
adventurer. A series of disasters brought to an 
inglorious ending a grand enterprise. One failure 
among many indeed, but to us possibly having larger 
meaning. We may especially deplore it, for mani- 
festly the history of Maine and adjacent coast has 
been a loser. Careful exploration with full and precise 

67 



record was intended, as was declared on leaving 
Newfoundland, " without delay to proceed unto the 
south, not omitting any river or bay which in all that 
large tract of land appeared to our view worthy of 
search." An important member of the expedition 
lost with the wrecked flagship, was a Hungarian 
scholar, Stephen Parmenius, writer of elegant Latin, 
having the duty to preserve descriptions of places 
visited and all conditions bearing upon establishment 
of colonies. Valuable for use in these centuries of 
historical study would have been information then 
obtained regarding Maine's rivers, harbors, its soil, 
minerals, forest trees and also its native inhabitants. 
We would thankfully welcome even one-half as full 
description of the Maine coast as Captain Hayes then 
wrote out regarding Newfoundland. 

It was a grievous overthrow of an important 
undertaking for England and the extension of her 
domain, but also to us now it has sent down a his- 
torical disappointment. The *' might have been " 
is ever a serious factor in human affairs. By Sir 
Humphrey's success, information would have been 
put in store for him and assigns then and for 
the following century of actual entrance, but not 
alone information but a colony on the Maine coast 
then or a few years later can be named as a possi- 
bility. Likewise had Gilbert lived and carried for- 
ward his colonial schemes, and established enduring 
colonies on Newfoundland or on the Bay of Fundy, 
they might have debarred the French, and the 
rivalry of the next one hundred and fifty years and 

68 



bloody contention for supremacy in North America 
had been avoided. 

The narrative, bowever, sbows that Sir Humphrey's 
ships carried out ill-assorted elements, many vicious 
and lawless men, and it may be doubted if any colony 
he then could have set on foot would have had more 
than transient existence. If his brother Raleigh's 
failed in the next years, what better expectation for 
his scheme ? Still it is agreeable to allow imagina- 
tion to spare this bitter disaster and to send him on 
to explore and colonize and so to build fair structures 
changing thereby the course of history in beginning 
the United States. 

Gilbert's opinions had been formed favorable to 
southern latitudes, and had he been able to sail to the 
southward as first intended, the whole outcome of the 
enterprise might have been different. At Newfound- 
land, however, his preferences for the south were sup- 
planted. Visions of riches seized his ardent, eager 
mind, more glowing visions because of the wreck of 
property and penury in preceding years. The man 
of minerals, Daniel of Buda, discovered rocks laden 
with rich silver ores as he believed. Specimens were 
put aboard of the admiral, yet covertly, in view of the 
cupidity of the crews or the merchants on shore. In 
emphatic asseveration he assured the General that the 
ores were rich, were abundant, no need to seek 
further, all he could want was there, — and Sir 
Humphrey's head was turned. He had been a stu- 
dent of the miserable science of the times, had stud- 
ied alchemy, had dabbled in schemes to transmute 

69 



iron into copper, was ready for tlie tales of this Daniel 
of science, was equally or more visionary than other 
explorers of the New World of his times who imag- 
ined gold and silver ore was scattered profusely there 
for him who knew how to search, and Frobisher just 
before had laden a ship with shining worthless dirt. 
Sir Humphrey's hopes ran high, his future success, 
unto what might it not attain? He hastened his 
designs, went on to search the south also, and when 
the wreck of the Delight broke all his immediate 
plans, when tossing on the sea deciding to give over, 
when sailing on his fateful return voyage, fortune was 
his in hope, riches and honor and the gratitude of 
his queen. In the mournful plight of turning back 
he was buoyant ; another and larger expedition would 
be set out, Elizabeth would furnish money and ships 
at his word, and the ignis-fatuus gleaming to beckon 
him to greater achievement and renown was some 
shining silicate in Newfoundland rocks. Captain 
Hayes tells of his hopes, his plans, his constant talk 
of " something " that held the key of future success, 
which Hayes finally discovered to be those ores and 
all they promised. So vivid these hopes, so engross- 
ing his dreams of gains yet to be, that they broke his 
self-control, and when on the Golden Hind at sea, the 
memory of those specimen rocks lost in the wreck so 
roiled in him that seeing the boy who, formerly ordered 
to get them from the Delight, had forgotten, he seized 
him and gave him a sound drubbing so long after. 
Weakness may be joined with strength. This man 

had strength. He planned, he achieved, yet in the 

i 

70 



last grasp lost ; is one among tlie valiant purposeful 
souls who through danger, difficulty, repeated failure, 
opened the way to the possession of America. Maine 
lost, we believe, in his loss, for one of his men wrote 
of plans including more than Cape Breton, — " a 
voyage to Norumbega," and in the shadowy or real 
Norumbega, Maine was always central. 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert deserves honorable recogni- 
tion ; — a man of visions and also of deeds ; a man of 
large hopes and ambitions and also of performance in 
lighter degree. The ocean's violence was mightier 
than he, broke his plans but not his courage nor his 
will, and then took him to his rest. But he has this 
place of honor on the page of the ancient narrator, — 
" first of our nation that carried people to erect an 
habitation and government in those northerly coun- 
tries of America." 



SOME HISTORICAL OPINIONS REGARDING THE 

WRECK OF THE FLAGSHIP, THE DELIGHT, 

AFTER SAILING FROM ST. JOHN'S 

1, Capk Bbeton. 

Grahame's " North America," 1827. " Approaching continent . . . 

was dismayed by the inhospitable aspect of the coast of Cape 

Breton. . . largest vessel was shipwrecked." 
Palfrey's '* History of New England," 1858. "Off Cape Breton." 
"Encylopedia Brittanica," 1879. " Near Cape Breton." 
Hannay's " Acadia," 1880. •' On the rocks of Cape Breton." 
Harper's " Cyclopedia of United States History," 1881. "Off Cape 

Breton." 
"Dictionary of National Biography," 1890. "On flats and shoals 

between Cape Breton and Newfoundland." 

71 



L 

" Universal Cyclopedia," Johnson, 1895. " Wrecked on Cape Breton." 
"Transactions of Royal Society of Canada," 1897. ( G. Patterson). 
Cape Breton, probably Bay of Louisburg. 

2. Sable Island. 

Brown's "History of Island of Cape Breton," 1869. " By the reck- 
oning . . . on flats off the west end of Sable Island. " 

Murdock's "Nova Scotia." "One vessel lost there," i.e., Sable 
Island. 

Prince's " New England Chronology." " Loses ship on the shoals of 
Sablon," i. e., Sable Island. 

"Transactions of Royal Society of Canada," 1896. (Brymner). 
Accepts Sable Island. 

"Narrative and Critical History of America" (chapter by B. F. 
DeCosta). "In latitude forty-four degrees north, near Sable 
Island." 

"Historians' History of the World" (Frost). "Among the shoals 
near Sable Island." 

3. Indefinite Regarding Locality. 

Fox Bourne's " English Seamen under the Tudors." "Sighted Cape 
Breton .... struck a rock." [Narrative has many erro- 
neous statements]. 

Froude's " Forgotten Worthies, in Short Studies." " Explored coast 
south from St. John's .... as near the coast as they 
dared .... vessel lost." 

Belknap's "Biographies," 1798. Coasted along southern part of 
Newfoundland, intending " to make Cape Breton and the Isle of 
Sable ; entangled among shoals .... the Delight struck 
. . . . was lost." 

Holmes' "Annals." " From Cape Race towards Cape Breton . . 
cast away." 

Hildreth's "History of the United States." "Set sail for the conti- 
nent .... struck .... was lost." 

Ridpath's " History of the United States." " Off the coast of Massa- 
chusetts." 

Appleton's "Cyclopedia of American Biography." "Set sail for 
Norumbega .... vessel foundered." 

"Modern Cyclopedia." " Sailed to explore coast .... lost in 
storm." 

Bancroft's " History of the United States," edition 1876. "Intend- 
ing to visit the coast of the United States .... had not 
proceeded towards the south beyond the latitude of Wiscasset 
[Me.] .... wrecked." 

72 



General Chamberlain's "Maine, Her Place in History." "Encoun- 
tered a terrific storm, as some say, not far off Monhegan." But 
this narrates Gilbert's death, not the previous wreck of the 
Admiral. 

Prowse's " History of Newfoundland," 1896. " Lost off Cape Sable." 

"International Encyclopedia," 1897. "Vessel lost off Cape Sable, 
or Cape Breton Island." 

"Memoir of Gilbert" ( E. F. Slafter), Prince Society, 1904. "Fell 
into dangerous shoals probably not far from the island [ Sable ] 
he intended to visit .... sailed northwesterly . . . 
ran aground." 



73 



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